Staff Writer
The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), has procured land for the construction of a new N$38.3 million office complex at Ondangwa in the Oshana Region.
The Fund held a ground-breaking ceremony, paving the way for the construction of the new facility on Friday.
The GIPF offers pension and ancillary benefits to employees of government, parastatals and local authorities and has a membership base that stands close to 146,000 members countrywide. “The GIPF has adopted a member centric outreach strategy that focusses on ensuring the accessibility of GIPF services at the convenience of our members. The Fund therefore makes efforts towards decentralizing its operations with the aim to make services accessible to all members,” said Nilian Mulemi, chair of the GIPF Board of Trustees.
She added that “in an attempt to ensure the Fund delivers GIPF services in a conducive environment to the members in Ondangwa and surrounding areas, the Fund took a strategic decision to acquire its own office complex in the town of Ondangwa to attend to the growing number of members in this area”.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Governor of the Oshana Region, Elia Irimari, welcomed the development of this multi-million dollar building to his region. “My people in Ondangwa,
Okatjali, Uukwiyuushona, Okaku, Olukonda, Onayena, Onyaanya, Oniipa and Omulonga and I are grateful for the expected temporary employment created in the construction process and for the new look which the town is about to undergo since the new building is anticipated to be a state-of-of-the-art structure,” he remarked.
Additionally, the governor pledged his continuous support to the Fund and implored all GIPF members to ensure that their member details are in order, that they are enrolled on the funds recently launched biometric system in order to ensure benefits are paid out on time.
GIPF launched a new biometric enrolment and verification system, which officially went live on 1 August and will run until 28 February 2023.
According to the Fund, this new system will require that all qualifying annuitants are enrolled to have their biometrics data captured, which caters to more than 50,000 active recipients of GIPF. Mayor of Ondangwa, Paavo Amwele remarked that the GIPF has invested over N$306 million in the Oshana region of which over N$110 million is invested in Ondangwa through land servicing and construction for the benefit of those that reside in surrounding areas.
Notable projects include investments into the Gwashamba Mall and the landmark Ongwediva MediPark Private Hospital and numerous land servicing projects.
“The new facility will provide adequate space for our staff and GIPF members, and we anticipate that when the office is fully developed it will also have additional offices that will be up for rental which we foresee as a further investment in the development of Ondangwa”, remarked GIPF CEO David Nuyoma when he thanked the stakeholders who were in attendance. ‘’Todays ground-breaking event formed part of the GIPFs strategy to ensure that the Fund response to the plea by our members for a conducive and adequate office space environment. We believe that this intervention will immensely improve our service delivery,’’ concluded Nuyoma.
