Water relief for Ombu community

By Confidente Reporter

THE Road Fund Administration (RFA) and the Roads Authority (RA) have donated a solar water pump and infrastructure that was installed at a borehole in Ombu village situated 8km from Otjiwarongo in the Otjozondjupa region.

Speaking at the handover ceremony which took place recently at Ombu, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform Anna Shiweda said RFA and RA jointly donated N$12 million of which N$ 8 million was allocated to restore 41 boreholes in 10 regions across the country, by installing solar water pumps and water tanks.

“This specific solar water pump that is being handed over to the Ombu community was generously donated by the RFA and RA as part of the 41 boreholes that I referred to above.

It is my hope that this water infrastructure will bring some water relief for this community,” she said.

She stated that the joint response of RFA and RA is laudable as it is a confirmation of the commitment of the two companies towards honouring their corporate social responsibility.

Shiweda said the borehole has continued to serve the community even after the 2018/2019 drought saying that it is furthermore important to underline that the resources that were availed by RFA and RA to equip the boreholes could not have come at a better time as government resources are currently limited and overstretched due to many other national challenges including the impact of Covid-19.

She said during the current Medium Term Expenditure Framework the government has prioritised water provision as one of the important development programmes.

Shiweda said according to studies Otjozondjupa is one of the regions that is endowed with abundant quality underground water resources.

She went on to say that government is committed in developing the water resources in order to ensure adequate water supply and security in the region but their efforts are being hampered by limited resources which, in turn, negatively affect the development of new water schemes and the operation of the technical maintenance teams of the ministry.

“However, I wish to assure you that despite these challenges the ministry continues to be committed to look for resources for the implementation of water projects in this region.

The ministry at the moment supplies water to the communities of Otjozondjupa through boreholes, pipelines, reservoirs and earth dams while government drilled 16 boreholes during the 2018/19 financial year in response to drought of which three were already installed with the required equipment.

Shiweda added five boreholes were rehabilitated while another five were installed with water extraction equipment during the 2015/16 drought season.

“This borehole at Ombu is one of the five boreholes that were revamped and installed with high quality water pumps and solar panels.”