The Kamanjab Village Council is drilling several boreholes to address the water crisis that residents have been experiencing over the past few months.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Bianca Nguaiko, says the village council received N$5 million from the Office of the Prime Minister to effect this.

Nguaiko says residents have been without water for over six months after the Namwater borehole dried up.

She says that with the funds they received from the Office of the Prime Minister last month, they have appointed a contractor. 

Nguaiko highlights that drilling is an expensive exercise since the area is rocky.

"Taking into consideration the rockiness of Kamanjab, the demographic is very rocky, so it's a hard exercise to complete and also expensive to drill the boreholes because they have to go around about 120 to 150 metres, and sometimes they cannot push through the hard rock."

She states that the council has procured prepaid water metres to be installed in the Urab informal settlement, where about 420 people are expected to benefit.

"Council has also, as per our gazette, already approved a special tariff for our ultra-low-income earners, where they will pay an amount of N$159 per month for all services. And the first people to benefit are in Urab. Because now we will have our own water, and we will determine our own price, not the NamWater price."

Nguaiko says the residents are now getting water from one borehole while they wait for the other three to be completed.

She indicated that in mitigating electricity costs, they have requested the installation of solar and prepaid electricity.

"This is now the first borehole drilled; it's installed with solar as well as electricity. When there is no sun or the battery is flat, we use electricity. It's prepaid electricity because we also don't want our electricity cut off for other expenses. The value of this borehole is N$100,000, and it is from where the whole of Kamanjab is getting water. NamWater does not give us water; we are just getting an account, but water is coming from this borehole, which is run by Kamanjab village council."

The council has constructed a new reticulation system and integrated the Urab informal settlement. 

Despite the council's achievements, Nguaiko singles out road infrastructure, financial constraints, and the increased number of residents as challenges the council faces.