Maria David
THE Eenhana Town Council has increased its 2022/23 budget by 18% to N$88.9 million, citing an improvement in housing delivery last year which has now a direct proportion of the revenue streams.
The budget was N$82.7 million in the 2021/22 financial year.
Tabling his budget, Mayor Omri-Onn Kavandje said their operational expenditure continues to take the biggest portion of the budget, while capital projects are allocated 29%.
“This cost is necessitated by an increase in maintenance of both water supply systems and sewerage reticulation systems in town,” he said.
Kavandje stated that the current increase in fuel prices is also starting to contribute to these costs. “Council cannot stop using vehicles due to escalation cost, else service won’t be rendered to the residents.”
He said to recover the costs incurred in maintaining water and sewerage reticulation facilities the council is forced to adjust its tariff structure by 4%.
Water consumption per cubic meter gained 85 cents for households, 93 cents for non-domestic and 0.73 cents for residential special users respectively.
Sewerage connection fees are adjusted by 10% to 25% depending on the size of the pipe.
He said the entire country is affected by an economic recession, and the adjustments they have made to their tariff structure are far below the services demanded by the residents.
“Everyone demands council to deliver within a short time, which is impossible due to the slow cash inflow and inadequacy of other resources. However, we believe that the adjustment we have made to the tariff structure will enable us to move forward a bit,” he added.
Kavandje said during the 2022/23 financial year Council has allocated N$10.2 million for the provision of municipal services, while town planning is allocated over N$3 million.
Council has also put aside N$8.3 million for organization development, development of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) trading facilities and community services.
About N$3 million is allocated to equipment and vehicles, ICT infrastructure and beautification of recreation parks in town.
