500 rural toilets to be built

The urban and rural development ministry, which was allocated a budget of more than N$1 billion, will this year build more than 500 toilet facilities for rural communities.The ministry last year managed to service a total of 1 751 plots and 1 479 new houses were constructed, while 43 new townships were proclaimed.Urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni said this when he tabled the ministry’s annual budget of more than N$1.33 billion for the 2022/2023 financial year in parliament, which represents a decline of 15% from last year’s budget allocation.He elaborated on the various programmes to which the budget will be allocated.For the Rural Development Programme an amount of N$84 346 has been allocated to sustain ongoing activities.An amount of N$20 million will be used to support rural sanitation initiatives implemented through regional councils.“With the budgetary allocation that we received and was made available to regional councils last financial year for rural sanitation, we constructed some 572 toilet facilities for rural communities.”An allocation of N$4, 2 million of the current budget is earmarked to support self-help income and employment generating initiatives by rural communities.“Some 23 income-generating projects were also supported by regional councils in the last financial year.According to Uutoni, an amount of N$8 million has been allocated to sustain the operations and developmental activities of existing Rural Development Centres, while the remaining N$30 million is to finance on-going works at six new rural development centres that are under construction.These are at Rupara in Kavango West Region, Masokotwane in Zambezi Region, Eembaxu in Ohangwena Region, Ogongo in Omusati Region, Snyfontein in //Karas Region and Gibeon in Hardap Region. The new facilities are at different levels of construction.An amount of N$250 million has been allocated to the Support to Habitat and Housing development programme.This programme entails budgetary allocations to local authorities, regional councils and other role players to implement capital projects that will result in the construction of and access to basic municipal infrastructure and services as well as opportunities for housing, land tenure security and improved sanitation.Uutoni said as part of their ongoing efforts to scale up the provision of serviced urban land and housing especially for the ultra-low and low-income groups, allocations to the amounts of N$9.5 million and N$10 million have been made under this year’s budget for the Build-Together Programme (BTP) and the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) respectively.According to him Regional and Local Government and Traditional Authorities Programme has been allocated N$839 960, which will go towards supporting and enhancing the operational and service delivery capacity of Regional Councils and Local Authorities as well as recognised Traditional Authorities.Uutoni said that in addition to recurrent operational expenses of sub-national governments and recognised traditional authorities, the allocation will specifically be used to fund several critical activities.This includes the revision and amendment of the Council of Traditional Leaders Act, 1997 and its Amendment Act 31 of 2000 and the Traditional Authorities Act, 2000.“The Ministry and stakeholders have identified a number of discrepancies and loopholes in the administration and the application of the two laws that govern the affairs of traditional leaders and traditional authorities. The identified gaps have been hampering the effective application and administration of the two legislations by both the government and Traditional Authorities.”He said that the review and amendment process is already under way.Under the Enhancement of Public Participation in Development Planning and Decision-Making Programme a budgetary allocation of N$12.8 million has been made to fund activities related to the decentralisation of additional functions to Regional Councils.“In order to ensure policy oversight as well as financial, technical and administrative support to the four core functional areas and programmes of the ministry, an allocation in the amount of 1.09 million has been made for this purpose.”

500 rural toilets to be built

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-31

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500 rural toilets to be built

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-31

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