Leading Namibian 800 metres athlete Daniel Nghipandulwa has called on the Windhoek City Council to put up sports infrastructure in all informal settlements of the city as a matter of urgency. The 32-year old Daniel Nghipandulwa, who represented Namibia in the African Athletics Championship, the All Africa Games as well the World Athletics Championships in the past, says the manner in which the Windhoek City Council approves the allocation of land in informal settlements, should also apply for sports infrastructure in those areas. Such a move will be for a good cause, according to Nghipandulwa, who is the Namibian record holder for the 800 metres. “This will help the youth off the street, and bad things. They are really in need of sport infrastructure to participate in the various sports disciplines of their choice. Let the Windhoek City Council avail erven for sports purpose as a way of uplifting sports in informal settlements” Nghipandulwa said. Approached for comment, Manager of Parks and Sports at the City of Windhoek, Wagga Kazombiaze, explained during a fact-finding mission to one of the informal settlements that the Municipality does care about the importance of sports, despite the challenges they are faced with. “ We have some financial challenges. Look at this sports field for us to turn it into a proper Feld the earthwork itself in the region of 2 million, which is a costly exercise, from there we need to level it, put the grass and the wall, so the whole budget will shoot up to 7 million just for one field” said Kazombiaze . Some portion of land that had initially been earmarked for sports infrastructure in the informal settlements is now occupied by residents without the permission of the City of Windhoek and this - according to Kazombiaze - makes things more difficult. “This land there where the mountains are - is earmarked for sports infrastructures but for us to start building it, there is no access to there as you can see, there is also a river bed so for us to come with a sport field here it will takes long. Most of this people wants to participate in sports, they wants to see the kids participate in sports, but the process to answer to their long is a long and costly one” Kazombiaze said. Sports events in informal settlements usually happen on weekends, with residents making their presence felt in large crowds.