Rundu civic centre plans soak up N$8 million

The Rundu Town Council has allocated N$8 million for consultancy services as part of plans to build a new N$90-million multi-storey head office.

This was revealed by Kavango East governor Hamunyera Hambyuka during his state of the region address delivered at Rundu on Wednesday.

“Kindly note that the design and consultancy relating to the construction of the Rundu Town Council civic building are progressing well, with N$8 million allocated for consultancy services,” he said.

Rundu mayor Gabriel Kanyanga says the consultancy includes the building plans, architectural design, and feasibility study.

However, he could not provide the name of the appointed consultancy firm.

“We are just waiting for the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, as per discussions held with the previous minister and the executive director who was in office at the time,” Kanyanga says.

He says the council was supposed to receive N$30 million from the ministry this year, which would be disbursed in three stages, to begin the first phase of construction.

“Since there is a new minister and executive director, the town council still needs to engage them on the agreement made with the former leadership,” Kanyanga says.

According to the mayor, the construction of the new head office is estimated to cost around N$90 million.

“This office will be built exactly where the town council currently operates. It will be the only office to accommodate council staff, and it must be a multi-storey structure,” he says.

“We need architects who can look into how tall or big the structure should be, how many offices it will contain, and how many people the council chambers can accommodate,” Kanyanga says.

“The entire project will cost about N$90 million or less, because we had agreed with the previous minister and executive director that the N$30 million would be received during this financial year.”

Rundu acting chief executive Anna Kalyangu yesterday referred The Namibian to the town’s spokesperson, Benjamin Makayi, who was in a meeting.

Hambyuka on Wednesday also said a gravel road at Rundu, named after former minister of works and transport John Mutorwa, will be upgraded to bitumen standard at a cost of N$23.8 million.

A 2.5km road to the University of Namibia’s campus at the town was upgraded from gravel to bitumen standard at a total cost of N$4,5 million.

“The upgrading of 11.3km sandy road to gravel in informal settlement areas has been undertaken, of which two roads are at Kaisosi, two at Tuhingireni, four at Ndama, three at Sauyemwa and one at Satotwa to the value of N$7.8 million,” he said.

The governor said that the rehabilitation of the Sauyemwa sewer pump station was completed at a cost of N$300 000.

To improve water pressure in several areas, N$1 million was budgeted for the procurement of water boosters for Sauyemwa, Satotwa, and Tuhingireni, of which N$898 000 was spent.

An additional N$400 000 was allocated for water boosters at Ndama and Sun City, with N$374 000 spent, Hambyuka said.

He said the stormwater master plan was budgeted for at N$1 million, and N$630 000 was spent on the project to date.

Furthermore, the drilling of 21 boreholes across the region was completed at a total cost of N$6.6 million.

Phase 1 of prepaid water meter system implementation is also progressing, with N$3.9 million invested in the initiative, the governor said.

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