By: Loise Shiimi

The City of Windhoek says the N$155 million loan from the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) was to address electricity issues, or the City may find itself experiencing electricity woes by 2024.

The City and DBN and signed the agreement on Monday.

According to the municipality’s spokesperson Lydia Amutenya, they conducted an inspection to work on the electricity system matter and that the loan will be used to improve the electricity infrastructure to help people in Windhoek.

“Therefore, the loan from the development of Namibia is crucial to ensure that the capacity of electricity will be sufficient for all the clients by 2024. The population is increasing every day, and more people will require more services. Companies are being constructed, and businesses will have to use electric power,” she said.

The City gets its power from Nampower’s Van Eck Substation, however, according to the City, it can no longer be upgraded to accommodate the anticipated demand as it has reached its physical design capacity.

“We have been using electricity from NamPower in Khomas region. However, NamPower will be out of date and unable to help with the electricity consumption during the estimated time of 2024. Projections by NamPower have indicated that the new substation will cost the City of Windhoek a total of N$228 million. The City of Windhoek has already paid N$72 million to NamPower from its own resources. We are left with N$155 million, and that dragged us to the development bank of Namibia (DBN)for the remaining amount to ensure that by the year 2024, we have the new substation.” Amutenya said

Amutenya clarified that N$72 million would not have been enough at the moment to start with the assignment of constructing the Khomas substation, which will take 42 to 48 months to be completed.

Amutenya further said that residents’ opinions would lead the City, and they look forward to hearing from everyone.

Chairperson of the City’s management committee Elsie Keister agreed, stating that the use of electricity in Windhoek is increasing since there are new houses, commercial buildings, industrial development facilities and more.