The rezoning of Brakwater on the outskirts of Windhoek to cater for residential and industrial projects formed part of the City of Windhoek council meeting in-depth deliberations.
This follows after the matter was brought forth for consideration of an industrial bricklaying project in the area.
"Brakwater number 48 from a residential with a density of one to the ratio of five hectares to business with a bulk of 0.5 rezoning of portion 554, a portion of portion 345, of the farm. Brakwater number 48 from residential with a density of one to the ratio of a hectare. To underline with a bug of 0.5 and a constant of use to portion 554, a portion of portion 345, of the farm. Brakwater, number 48 for the purpose of nauseous industry, brick making," said Mayor Queen Kamati.
City of Windhoek Councillor Dr. Job Amupanda noted the importance of zoning to have earmarked areas for industrial and residential. This, he said, will in turn tackle the issue of noise pollution.
"But they are people with specific portions of land. That's why the zoning is quite important, because at some point those people are going to decide that they are going to build houses. So what's happening there? Because it's one thing to have a zoning that links to industrial development there are actually residential activities happening there already. So how are we balancing? It might actually be the essence of complaining about noise and things like that. So, what is happening there?"
The City of Windhoek's Strategic Executive of Urban Transport and Planning, Pierre van Rensburg, explained that Brakwater has several planning zones, which allow for residential and industrial activity.
However, what was lacking was the environmental clearance for the specific area needed for industrial.
"Brakwater has got a number of planning zones with different zones. This one specifically is in zone D, which does allow for industrial activity, as per the item. As I said, the only issue was that there was no environmental clearance for that specific activity that they wanted to do that industrial activity, and they had to go through the process legally to get that parent certificate. Now there's also an environmental management plan, which will henceforth be evaluated and monitored by the environmental division. There are also other zones in Brakwater that are purely, I think, zone B. This one is in zone E. I think zone B and some of the others have got purely residential."