The establishment of the regional electricity distributor company for the Hardap and ||Kharas regions is anticipated to become operational this year.

Gerschon Dausab, the Chairperson of the Hardap Regional Council, shared this information on the sidelines of a closed-door consultation meeting held in Keetmanshoop aimed at discussing the formation of the RED company and its implications.

Once the regional electricity distributor becomes operational, its primary responsibility will be to supply and distribute electricity to all regional councils and local authorities in the Hardap and ||Kharas regions.

The establishment of a RED in the southern regions has been a long-planned initiative, but it has faced persistent delays and challenges along the way.

"We are trying to set up a company that will deal with the electrical problem that we have. It is our understanding in terms of the fact that we have on paper that we have huge problems in terms of the infrastructure in the two regions of which the lifespan is at this moment at 35% on average for the two regions, meaning 65% of the total infrastructure is already gone, it's going to collapse sometime, and therefore we need to be responsible but also accountable to people and therefore take decisions to help our people so that when the time comes we are not getting into the problem where we cannot deal with the infrastructure, therefore the formation of the new company."

The regional councils and local authorities, who will be the owners of the company, are expected to sign a shareholding agreement shortly.

"We would use the assets at 50% thereof and the customer base or buying power at 50%, and that would make up the percentage share that one would have in the company."

Dausab is confident that the new electricity distribution company will enable local authorities and regional councils to supply electricity to customers at affordable tariffs."