Stefanus Nashama
Oshakati Town Council has allocated N$1 million to introduce a prepaid water meter system.
This comes after residents of the town requested the town council to introduce the prepaid water meter system, citing that the meter system works better because of the unrealistic way the municipality charges for water supply.
Speaking to the Windhoek Observer yesterday, the town’s mayor, Leonard Hango, said the town council is aware of the matter.
He revealed that the local authority management has allocated the necessary funds from the current budget to address the matter.
“The prepaid meter system has been a wish of residents and the management has put N$1 million to procure prepaid water meters,” the mayor informed
He acknowledged that the funds allocated are not sufficient to address the matter and added that the town council will again next year consider putting aside funds to buy more water meters.
“By next year June, we will allocate money to ensure more water meters are procured so that the residents have access to prepaid water systems,” he stressed.
Hango pointed out that there are communal taps that use prepaid water cards which are accessible to the residents both in town and informal settlements.
He also explained that there is a committee that manages the community water tap and arranges for how the residents should pay for water and manage the communal taps.
According to Hango, the town council has also realised that residents of lower income are unable to pay for meters, adding that the council would require more prepaid water meters to include such a category for residents.
Town council’s spokesperson, Katarina Kamari, said the council has already received presentations from various companies to ensure it gets a suitable company to install the prepaid water meters.
“Once we identify a suitable company to provide the meters, we will put it to the test first to see if the system is working,” she said.
Concerning the charges, Kamari said the town council sourced water from Namwater, and that the local authority continues to pay for the supply.
She added that last year the municipality cleared water debts for low-income residents, as they were unable to settle their bills.
“We cancelled their debt while looking for different ways to provide solutions and recover the money lost by writing off debt,” she said.
She said the charges to customers, who use water meters, are cheaper in Oshakati when compared to other towns.
