THE City of Windhoek has accepted a donation of two Mitsubishi Fuso firefighting trucks, valued at N$2,2 million, from the US embassy in Namibia.
The decision to accept the donation was taken at a recent monthly council meeting but it still has to be approved by the minister of urban and rural development, Peya Mushelenga.
This information is contained in the city’s September report.
In January, the city’s department of economic development and community services was approached by the embassy on whether the emergency and disaster risk management division was interested in receiving a donation of two fire trucks from the USA government.
The vehicles were to be sourced from the US department in Okinawa, Japan.
At a meeting on 15 January 2019 municipal officials told the US embassy representatives that the donation would be welcome provided that the necessary approval is obtained from the line minister.
“While waiting for feedback, an email was received on 14 August 2019 with details of the vehicles and confirmation that they had already been shipped with the estimated arrival date of 13 September 2019 at Walvis Bay…despite the short time given to obtain approval, this information could not have come at a better time as we are facing extreme difficulties in procuring new vehicles due to the city’s financial position,” reads a section of the report.
The model year of both fire engines are 1998 and the mileage on one reads 31 941 kilometres while the other stands at 22 419 kilometres.
This donation, if approved by Mushelenga, would greatly enhance the city’s capacity of firefighting and rescue service delivery.
“The additional vehicles make it possible for the City of Windhoek to extend its emergency response capacity to the growing informal settlements; Windhoek rural constituency areas that fall within the extended boundary lines such as Ongos township development, Mix settlement, Groot Aub, Finkenstein, Hosea Kutako International Airport and coverage of important road networks such as the B1 Road between Windhoek and Okahandja, Windhoek and Rehoboth and the Trans-Kalahari route,” it stated.
The donation includes all shipping costs through Walvis Bay to Windhoek, while the municipality will only provide administrative support to ensure that the vehicles are registered in line with the Local Authorities Act which governs municipalities in Namibia.
Repeated efforts to get comment from Mushelenga on the donation were futile as his mobile phone went unanswered. – Nampa
