While the quote goes, Water is life, for many living in informal settlements, access to water is a daily struggle they have to face. 

It's against this that in its efforts to address water scarcity in the capital city's informal settlements, the City of Windhoek handed over per-paid water infrastructure valued at N$150,000 at the Jerry Ekandjo and Mathew Shikongo informal settlements in the Moses ||Garoëb Constituency, 

The municipality constructed five pre-paid water standpipes, with pipelines and infrastructure being installed. 

Community Leader Teofelus Haufiku expressed the residents gratitude for the infrastructure. "We feel happy to receive these water taps. We used to walk a long distance of about 5 km just to get water, and to walk back home, it was already 10 kilo meters. Now we are happy the water is close by."

The Mayor of Windhoek, Queen Kamati, noted that, in line with their strategic objectives of providing basic services, especially to vulnerable communities, it was important for them to explore the option of providing these much-needed services. 

"There are many similar situations throughout the informal settlements, and it is our intention to make concerted efforts to reach the vulnerable communities throughout the city as and when funds are available." 

City of Windhoek CEO, Moses Matyayi, emphasised the city's commitment to improving its services to residents.

"I am informed that in this area there are about 900 residents, and at least it is pleasing to say if you have five taps that are currently going to be serving this area, it already meets our target of a radius of about 200 metres that a tap needs to serve, so at least each one must be able to reach that specific space." 

Currently, the city has been experiencing serious water scarcity, which has led to the municipality introducing strict water-saving measures. 

The residents are now hopeful that the City of Windhoek will provide them with other basic services such as street lights and ablution facilities and improve their road infrastructure.

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Photo Credits
City of Windhoek

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Author
July Nafuka