Mariental, Jul 24, 2026 (New Era/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
The Municipality of Mariental has made ample provision for service delivery projects and empowering programmes serving the best interests of its residents.
During an exclusive interview with New Era, acting CEO Martin Tobias said emphasis was placed during budgetary discussions to improve access to housing, water, electricity and sewerage, whilst provision was also made to tackle poverty and unemployment by driving local job creation through their strategic Local Economic Development (LED) policy.
"Council has also officially approved the new Mariental Zoning Scheme and the twenty-year Mariental Structure Plan (2024-2044), with consultants now notified to begin with the next steps towards implementation," he explained. Tobias continued: "These key approvals lay the legal and developmental groundwork for the town's future growth, guiding how Mariental will physically expand while ensuring all future land use is properly managed and organised."
Regarding the upgrading of informal settlements, Tobias said the N$8.3 million project to improve Mariental's informal areas is now 80% complete.
"The initiative is on track for completion by December 2026 and will directly benefit more than 14 000 residents in areas such as Oshiwana, Penduka, Ombili, Donkerhoek and Takarania by replacing temporary shacks with permanent, serviced plots," said the interim chief administrator.
He added that, apart from already connecting 883 plots to water and sewer lines so far, the council will, to accommodate everyone, finalise an agreement to take over nearby church land, which is currently being surveyed for new plots.
"We are also preparing additional land in Empelheim to ease overcrowding in our busiest neighbourhoods, ensuring we can move families into less crowded spaces since the main goal is to give every local family a safe, permanent place to live, backed by official title deeds so they truly own their land," he said. Turning the attention to the provision of services, the acting CEO gave the assurance that the council are moving forward with installing water, sewer and electricity networks in Empelheim Extension 5.
"Backed by an N$13.5 million allocation in our 2026/27 budget supported by the National Development Budget, along with an additional N$5 million dedicated to the electricity network, this work is the crucial first step to prepare fully serviced plots for families currently living in informal settlements," he elaborated.
According to Tobias, another budgeted project, namely the new landfill site, is on full track, moving forward with the first phase of constructing and operating it with N$5 million budgeted for the 2026/27 financial year.
"Rather than just managing waste, this facility will focus heavily on reducing refuse through initiatives like recycling," he said.
Probed on the accessibility of homeownership being highly accessible, he said the municipality subsidises land for low-income households by offering an 80% discount on erf prices.
"We continue to drive affordable housing through partnerships with national programmes like the Shack Dwellers Federation, the Decentralised Build Together Project and the National Housing Enterprise. Additionally, we are engaging with private developers and exploring a partnership with First Capital to offer pension-backed home loans for low-income government employees," Tobias said. On steps to foster local economic growth, he said through the LED, they collaborated with SME Compete and the Namibia Financial Literacy Initiative to provide vital entrepreneurship training and seed capital to local businesses, an effort further strengthened by our annual public-private dialogue.
"Through other collaborations with our partners, the council has empowered residents and, in addition, successfully trained local women in backyard gardening and traditional soap making as well as taught community members how to create and sell unique crafts made from recycled materials," said the acting chief executive officer.
Speaking on youth empowerment, Tobias said support of the youth development initiative council dedicated N$250 000 in its annual budget to youth skills development and is funding remedial courses for 16 local students.
COMTEX_489378133/2029/2026-07-24T16:46:12
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