Residents of the Kavango East Region who are attending the consultation meeting for the Kavango Link Project expressed a host of concerns. 

Kavango Link is a long-term plan to address water shortages by taking water from the Kavango River and distributing it to central areas of Namibia via a 280 km long pipeline and pumping scheme. 

They also wanted to know why the government is so fast to address water issues in central Namibia but is neglecting the same water needs as the residents of Kavango. 

Some of them also expressed their concerns about how the project will affect the ecosystems surrounding the river and the impact it will have on locals who depend on the Kavango River for agriculture and grazing.

The Kavango Pipeline Project has been on the cards since the 1970s, but it never really kicked off. 

Some locals are now asking why the Kavango Link Project is being imposed on the current generation while there are several other issues the country should be focusing on, like alleviating youth unemployment, for example. 

Some elders also questioned the objective of the meeting and the method that was used to invite Traditional Authority leaders, emphasising that a number of them were not in attendance. 

Some locals blatantly called the project a bad idea, while others called out the Rundu Town Council for not sending a representative to attend the meeting. 

All in all, a number of the attendees had more questions about the project, and very few people actually commended the project in its entirety.