By: Eba Kandovazu

A big bulk of the Ondangwa Town Council budget, which was tabled last week, will be geared towards constructing phase one of an international stadium in Ondangwa.

This was said by Ondangwa mayor Paavo Amwele, who noted that road construction in the town is also another big priority.

He said about N$ 10 million is budgeted for the stadium.

A total of N$170 million has been tabled for the 2022/23 financial year budget.

Amwele added that N$1.4 million is intended for land development, including the planning and surveying of new townships, adding that N$19 million is intended for road construction at Oluno, extension 26 and Onguta.

“However, the council will keep an eye on our bulk services’ suppliers such as NamWater and the Northern Electricity Distributor (Nored) to see if they are planning heavy increases in their rates,” he said.

In the last financial year, the town council budgeted a total of N$172 million. He said Covid-19 continues to impact the town council’s revenue.

“We decided to cut,” he said.

The mayor added that N$27 000 is to be taken from their reserves, saying the council expects to make about N$45.7 million from the sale of water, N$32.2 million from rates and taxes, and close to N$16 million from the sale of erven.

He stressed that the council’s salaries, wages and allowances are about 20 per cent of the total budget, while only 2.4 per cent goes to repairs and maintenance.

“The other percentages go to provision for bad debts, which is at 4 per cent, provision for leave, which is at 1.1 per cent and provision for depreciation, which is at 12,3 per cent. All in all, our budget shows our commitments as a council to make Ondangwa a better town for all,” he added.

Amwele concluded that the taxi rank between Ondangwa and Oshikango would have been inaugurated before the end of the year.

He said that although most of the construction is complete, they are yet to construct vendor tents. He also said they would build a toilet at the taxi rank.