THE Oshakati Town Council is awaiting the awarding of a tender for the deepening and lining of part of the Cuvelai delta system, known as the Okatana River, to reduce the flooding of suburbs on its banks.
According to a spokesperson for the Oshakati Town Council, Jackson Muma, the deepening of the river will start from the Roman Catholic mission north of Oshakati.He says since this river splits into two channels, the deepening and lining process will be done in both channels.One channel runs through Oshakati and serves as boundary between Oshakati West and Oshakati East. The second channel that will be deepened runs under the Kandjengedi Bridge to the east of the town. These two channels merge again a few kilometres outside Oshakati and the water eventually drains into the Etosha Pan.’The tender process for deepening the two channels has closed and what is expected is only the awarding of the actual work to a successful bidder,’ Muma said.He told The Namibian that the town council has appointed consultants to supervise the financial and technical aspects of this contract.The appointed supervisors are Preferred Management Services and Knight PieCold Consulting.Muma pointed out that the part of the Okatana River running through Oshakati has silted up, restricting the free flow of water and causing flooding.He believes that the deepening of the river will speed up the flow of water through Oshakati.Asked about the possibility of building berms around the town to keep floodwater out, Muma said a contract to estimate the cost and propose a design has been awarded to Burhman Engineering.The design and costing will then be submitted to Government for consideration.Oshakati has experienced heavy flooding during the rainy season for the past few years.
