AFTER a long wait, about 200 households of Warmbad’s informal settlement were connected to the electricity grid on Saturday.
The N$850 000 electrification project started in March last year and completion was scheduled for May the same year.However, this did not happen and residents had to rely on gas stoves, lamps and candles. The regional councilor for the Karasburg constituency, Paulus Efraim, said employees of the South African company White Spread Investments had experienced problems with work permits and this had caused the delay. Officiating at the switch-on on Saturday, Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy Willem Isaacs said the ministry would continue with rural electrification projects despite financial constraints. He said government had invested about N$64 million in rural electrification projects during the 2010/2011 fiscal year, while it plans inject N$100 000 in the 2011/2012 financial year. Isaacs said the ministry was also exploring renewable energy sources such as solar, biogas and biomass to bring people in remote areas into the 21st century.’Renewable energy technology is designed to take care of communities that live in remote areas and far from the national grid because of the huge cost involved in bringing electricity to them,’ said Isaacs.
