The Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security, Albert Kawana, has promised that construction of police accommodation at Impalila Island will be completed by the end of October.

Minister Kawana gave the assurance at the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the police accommodation at Impalila Island and the Machenje Immigration Access point on the island for travel between Zambia and Namibia and the Kasika immigration office.

"I want now to tell the press; they see for themselves what we are doing here; these ones will be completed by or before the end of next month, so there's no way we are just doing this as a gimmick for elections; please tell those who are making noise that we mean business," said Dr. Kawana.

At the moment, people travelling to Kasika through Botswana have to get their passports and IDs stamped and scanned at Impalila before proceeding to Kasika, a tedious process that Kawana said would be eliminated.

"Our nationals will no longer need to travel long distances to access legal entry into and exit out of Namibia. The business community as well as the ordinary members of the public in this area must feel that we are here to serve them and ensure smooth entry and exit during normal operating hours."

Kawana further invited investors to visit Impalila Island to seize business and development opportunities, as the government has made such opportunities easier through the provision of roads, electrification, and network availability, while the landing strip will soon be constructed.

Zambezi Governor Lawrence Sampofu reaffirmed that the new facilities, especially the Machenje immigration point, will make travel easier.

"We are thankful to the Namibia and Botswana governments who have introduced the new look IDs, which we use without using passports between Namibia and Botswana. We are looking forward to seeing that it should happen also between Namibia and Zambia, as their families have to travel long distances to reach exit-entry points."