The Deputy Prime Minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, visited an envisaged government project to construct earth dams in the Oshana Region.

The Deputy Prime Minister's visit was prompted by the government's decision to invest in economic sectors that can drive economic benefit and job creation among the Namibian population.

She indicated that the government pays special attention to the agricultural sector, both in terms of livestock and crop production, hence the decision to construct earth dams in flood-prone areas such as the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin flood plains.

"Water is very important for livestock and crop production. That is why the GRN has taken the decision that in some areas we should put up earth dams that will be able to collect water during the rainy season, and that water can be used by the communities throughout the year for livestock as well as for people to do some gardening. I'm here now in the company of the governor and regional counselors just to look at some of the identified places that are earmarked for earth dams. Here in Okaku specifically, there are two places identified; we have visited both so that we can see how the program will start."

Andreas Uutoni, Chairperson of the Oshana Regional Council, stated that the Council received N$15 million from the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform for earth dam construction.

"Ideally, the dream of Oshana Regional Council is to have at least two dams per constituency. But now that we have divided this amount per constituency, we have found that each constituency gets N$1.1 million, and in that amount, we want to make two earth dams. Now, our planning directorate is advising us that we may not be able to come up with two earth dams, which is why we are trying to consult here and there so that at the end of the day we can come up with two dams per constituency."