…only those qualifying for bank loans are recipients
Andrew Kathindi
The Walvis Bay Municipality has finally allocated 60 houses that had remained unoccupied in the coastal town. The properties were earmarked only for those qualifying for bank loans who were already on the waiting list. Some of those receiving the properties were formerly backyard settlers.
The allocation of the houses comes as President Hage Geingob had announced that government will decide on what to do with the vacant houses.
“These houses are for people to stay because there is too much congestion in the informal settlement. There are too many settlements close together. So, they will be allocated houses so that they do not live cramped together,” Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula told Windhoek Observer.
Walvis Bay Mayor, Immanuel Wilfred said that the allocations were aimed at decongesting the town’s informal settlements.
“So far we have two initiatives to decongest the town. All 60 houses that are part of the Triple P Mass Urban Programme under the Walvis Bay municipality and Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, were allocated to residents, who will begin to move in by Friday 17 July,” he said.
Wilfred, however, said only those that qualified for bank mortgages and had been on the city’s housing list had benefited.
“These are permanent residents who qualified through the bank. After the President told us, we allocated according to the waiting list. Some of the beneficiaries are coming from backyard squatters. They didn’t own houses in the past. The ones who qualified, because those are bank credit houses,” said adding the council had invested N$62 million in the servicing of the land when the houses were built.
“Some of the houses will begin to be inhabited by Friday. Some of the keys we have already received, some we are still waiting, but we have allocated all those houses.”
The other initiative, the Mayor said was relocating people in the Twaloloka informal settlement, to more suitable land.
“Half of the residents of the overcrowded Twaloloka informal settle, which has a population of about 400, will be relocated. We are busy now with the land. Today we allocated six toilets to the area of Twaloloka, the land adjacent to Twaloloka belongs to NHE, and we were waiting for the negotiations between our line ministry and NHE to conclude. NHE gave us the green light to proceed, as that land belongs to them,” he said.
He further noted preparation for the land will commence once they have received and accepted quotes from construction companies with the machinery, with the process expected to take a week.
“As for the Medium to long-term to relocate the backyard squatters, that plan is already in place.”
The mayor said there are more than 16 000 people living as backyard squatters in Walvis Bay.
This comes as Walvis Bay on Wednesday 15 July recorded 91 new COVID-19. The coastal town has become the epicenter of pandemic in Namibia with the vast majority of the 960 cases reported to date coming from there.
The congestion of residents, particularly in the informal sector has been fingered as a key factor to the quick spread of the virus in Walvis bay.
