By December 2027, the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) plans to complete the construction of 546 housing units at Katima Mulilo.
The project is expected to address the housing backlog while providing affordable housing.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Katima Mulilo Mayor John Ntemwa emphasised how much of an impact the project will have on development in terms of revenue collection from rates and taxes, as well as infrastructure, such as roads.
"This project is a significant act towards addressing the housing shortage in Katima Mulilo. Many families in our town have been waiting for affordable homes, and today we are moving closer to making that a reality."
The Chairperson of the Zambezi Regional Council, Warden Simushi, appealed to the NHE to prevent vandalism of the houses by allocating them as soon as construction is completed.
"I want the applicant to occupy these houses once construction is complete. We don't want to wait until we've constructed 500 houses before the occupant moves in. At least when you finish 200 houses, you should allow the occupant to occupy those houses to avoid vandalism."
The housing enterprise indicated that they have commenced with the design of services that will run parallel with the construction of the houses, with an investment of N$4.7 million already availed for the design and construction of services.
The NHE's Executive for Infrastructure Development, Thomas Shilongo, assured the residents that the construction project would be completed in two years.
"This is the largest number of houses that NHE has done on a single project outside of mass housing, and we feel at home when we come to Katima; we also want to acknowledge that it is one of, if not the only, town council that avails land to NHE at no cost, understanding the true need of housing and the crisis that is there, so we continue to ask other local authorities to follow suit."
Katima Mulilo town council's Chief Executive Officer Rafael Liswansio reaffirmed that the council will continue to avail land for housing developments at no cost to cater to the residents' needs.
"That promise still stands. What we want is the implementation; we don't want to leave bushes because our people if they don't see anything, feel that we are denying them an opportunity to own their land."
In addition, the NHE announced that they are in the process of setting up a regional office for Zambezi in Katima Mulilo for simple access to applications and approvals.