Staff Writer
NamPower and the City of Windhoek have signed a “Project Development and Transfer Agreement on the Electrification of Peri-urban Areas in the Municipality of Windhoek.”
The project will be funded by NamPower to the tune of N$15.5 million as part of its Corporate Social Investment (CSI), aims to electrify 1,000 households in peri-urban areas of Windhoek.
“According to this agreement, NamPower is committing to contribute to the improvement of the lives of communities living in peri-urban areas, in and around Windhoek, by providing electricity to one thousand (1,000) households, as part of NamPower’s corporate social investment,” NamPower Managing Director, Kahenge Simson Haulofu said.
“To this effect, the City of Windhoek identified nine informal areas which are ready for electrification. NamPower’s contribution to the nine informal areas will be the electrification of a total of 1000 households. The electrification will be aligned to the existing City of Windhoek five-year electrification plan. The signing of this agreement signals the start of the “Electrification Project” of the peri-urban areas. This “Electrification Project” is aligned to the City of Windhoek’s five-year Electrification Plan.”
On successful completion, NamPower will hand over the electricity infrastructure assets to the City of Windhoek, as approved by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, under a deed of donation, he said.
“We expect that commissioning of the electrification project will be by end of August 2020, if no delays are experienced during our COVID-19 transition Stages. We are privileged to be part of this opportunity with the City of Windhoek for the realisation of a life-changing initiative such as this one. We further believe that the extension of electricity infrastructure to these areas will directly improve the lives of our people in need. It is NamPower’s hope that a tangible difference will be made in the lives of the beneficiaries and our fellow country citizens,” Haulofu said.
This comes as a study conducted by the Electricity Control Board (ECB) in 2015 identified more than 73,000 peri-urban housing structures within the boundaries of municipalities and towns.
“In addition, the study also identified that the majority of those households did not benefit from any sort of rural electrification programme. The peri-urban areas in and around the City of Windhoek made up the majority of the more than 73,000 households,” Haulofu said.
According to the NamPower MD, NamPower has invested more than N$42 million in its CSI initiatives across the country.
“NamPower steadfastly operates by its ethos of being a responsible corporate citizen. The company has, since its inception, intentionally made significant impact to the development of the country, beyond only providing electricity. NamPower, as a corporate citizen, will continue to fulfill its social responsibility, in addition to its core mandate of ensuring security of electricity supply. We pledge to continue investing in Namibia and its people, in a sustainable manner, while fulfilling our mandate, for the benefit of future generations and the development of Namibia at large,” he said.
