Plans are underway to construct a wastewater treatment plant and a biomass industrial park at Otjiwarongo to respond to the town's growing population.

This was revealed by Mayor Kandiwapa Shivute at the council's year-end meeting held at Otjiwarongo.

Shivute says the number of inhabitants at Otjiwarongo has grown to about 45 thousand, hence the need to upgrade the oxidation ponds.

The plant will have the capacity to hold more than 10 thousand cubic meters of wastewater.

"The existing plant has a capacity of 3,600 cubic meters and will need to be expanded to increase the inflow available to the tertiary treatment plant. Therefore, the development of a wastewater treatment plant is warranted to address the growth in a sustainable manner. The Otjiwarongo Municipality does not have enough technical or financial capacity to construct or manage a sophisticated treatment facility; therefore, the possible execution of a PPP would be a solution."

The municipality, Shivute added, intends to upgrade its waste disposal site to a solid waste recovery center to produce biogas.

Also in the plans is the biomass industrial park to help mitigate the negative environmental, social, and economic effects of bush encroachment.

"In addition to the WWTP, the Municipality of Otjiwarongo intends to upgrade its current waste disposal site to a solid waste recovery center capable of producing biogas, among other outputs," he said, adding that "the BIP project, the first of its kind in Namibia, aims to process up to 250 thousand tons of encroaching bush biomass per annum and use this raw material and its by-products in a number of value chains, operated by a host of independents."

Shivute further stressed that the council is at an advanced stage with land delivery programs, which will enable landless residents to secure land rights through the Flexible Land Tenure System.

Through this, about 4700 households in the informal settlement will benefit.