The Kavango West Region will soon have its own improved Civic Affairs Office.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security has plans in the pipeline to construct a regional civic affairs office at Nkurenkuru.

Since the 2013 demarcation, the Kavango West Region still depends on Kavango East for some government services.

Currently, the region has a Civic Affairs Office that does not offer all the required services. 

The office is also understaffed, contributing to the high number of undocumented people in the region.

"This office is very important to us as a region because it will bring essential services closer to our community, namely the issuing of national documents. As I briefed you this morning, our region has a large number of stateless and undocumented people, and we really want this challenge to be addressed, and this office is one of the facilities that will help us to address this problem," said Kavango West Regional Governor, Sirkka Ausiku.

According to the Namibia Inter-Censal Demographic Survey of 2011, Kavango West has the highest percentage of people without national documents, standing at 32% for birth certificates and about 32% for identity documents. 

Governor Ausiku urged the ministry to live up to its promise, as the region has had past experience with groundbreakings but with construction never getting off the ground. 

What was supposed to be a groundbreaking ceremony ended as an announcement ceremony for the construction of a civic affairs office, as Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah declined to do the groundbreaking.

The Vice President says her action is to avoid replication of the region's past experience. 

"I am told the contractor is already known; all the documentation is finalised, and it was really my wish that as I am groundbreaking the construction of this important office, I must put on the first corner brick, and as I am leaving, I must see the dust in the air. I see there is some sand here, I see there are shovels here, and I see there are helmets for the site. But I must say I will not put on those helmets today because there is no indication the construction has started. And since I am informed that the construction is delayed and that by August the construction will be here, that is when I am going to put on those helmets."

She requested that the ministry ensure that the contractor consider employing the locals.

The construction is set to commence on August 13.

The ministry will spend about N$70 million.