Giving people decent housing in the Kalahari Constituency
The need for decent housing in the Kalahari Constituency in the Omaheke Region has necessitated the Kalahari Homeless Indaba (KHI) to replace houses constructed with plastic sheets and dilapidated iron sheets with new iron sheets, by constructing 30 to 60 houses per financial year.
This process began during the end of the 2016/2017 financial year with ten houses in Blouberg as a pilot and is expected to continue for the next two to three years.
Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy, Kornelia Shilunga – the Patron of the KHI project, visited the project in Blouberg late last month to familiarise herself with the project and found out that out of the 35 households registered to be constructed, seven houses have already been constructed by the beneficiaries themselves.
The existing improvised houses, in Blouberg have already been electrified by CENORED and initially the existing impoverished houses were to be replaced with a new iron sheets and a concrete slab at an estimated cost of N$5000 to N$6000 per house.
Shilunga advised the Constituency Office to request a structural engineer to design an alternative low-cost dwelling to be used instead of the temporary iron sheets currently being used.
“This is to ensure that the houses constructed are permanent and I will dedicate myself to solicit support from mining companies and other private companies for the project,” Shilunga added.
Meanwhile, the Omaheke Regional Council have allocated N$80,000 for the project from its value added tax refunds of the 2016/2017 financial year and the Kalahari Constituency Office held a fundraising sports tournament about two years ago in an effort to get more sponsorship for building material of which some has already been received from the private sector.
