The University of Namibia is yet to finish the construction of an administration building, which started five years ago.

The capital project, funded by the National Planning Commission, came to a halt four years ago due to a lack of funds.

In 2017, the National Planning Commission agreed to fund the university's administrative building to the tune of about N$400 million.

The tender was awarded to Vaino Nghipondoka's BabyFace Civils in partnership with China Jiangxi International Namibia.

At independence, the campus accommodated about 300 students and 30 staff members but has since turned into a fully-fledged university, which now accommodates about 30 thousand scholars and three thousand staff. And with that, Unam was running out of space, explained Professor Ellen Namhila, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Administration and Finance.

"We are keeping staff members in store rooms. Former store rooms are converted into offices so that we can function and it's not healthy. Give them 3 months and they start having symptoms of this and that."

The four-story building was approved, and construction started, but less than a year later, in 2018, work stopped.

Professor Namhila said the Namibian economy started showing symptoms of a downturn and the government had to cut back, which ultimately affected the construction of the administrative building.

"Psychologically, every time you look at the building, it's an eyesore. It's just painful to see and of course, it affects our operations."

For the past four years, this has been the state of the building. The contractors, however, are still on site, and the university says it has been incurring costs.

"The same economic situation affecting us is also affecting them. To have that crane parked there, it cannot just be standing there for nothing but the cost is minimal compared to if we were to cancel the whole contract,"Namhila said, adding that "There is no hostility and we are managing that relationship so it doesn't become legal or doesn't raise a legal argument because they would have sued us already in 2018 if we were not to manage this."

Professor Namhila says that even though the university is trying its best to source funds, what has been acquired so far is just a drop in the ocean.

She also adds that it's easy for partners to fund programs for student services, but it becomes difficult for them to fund what is considered the heart of the university's decision-making processes, or capital projects.

For now, the building, which is only 20% complete, will have to wait for the government to recover.

And when it does, the agreement is that BabyFace Civils, in partnership with China Jiangxi International Namibia, will continue where they left off, albeit four years ago.