A master plan now needed more than ever

HEINRICH SCHROEDER, FOUNDING MEMBER OF KAVANGO BLOCK BRICK TRAINING ACADEMY WRITES:

Our Government of the day needs to admit that they do not have a working Master Plan in place to govern our country and grow the economy throughout the fourteen regions.

All political parties need to understand that you cannot govern and develop a country without a working Master Plan in place. The lack of a working Master Plan is what directs most criticism towards our Government of the day from opposition parties.

It is critical that the Government of the day provide their voters with proper infrastructure. The Founding President of the Republic of Namibia had a great vision with the concept of Vision 2030.

Pension funds are a great source of funding to develop the infrastructure of a country. Unfortunately our pension funds have ended up in the pockets of greedy financial advisers. Proper accountability measures need to be put in place so those responsible are held fully accountable when pension monies disappear. Again, the pension funding fiasco just shows that we do not have a working Master Plan in place.

Our second serving President established the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) with good intentions. I am of the opinion that operational staff of the DBN lack the necessary technical skills when it boils down to construction and infrastructure development. I am also of the opinion that they lack innovative thinking.

Lack of skills has created the biggest financial loss for our country.

The lack of auditing and monitoring of development projects is the reason for the mass housing crisis which in my opinion was further aggravated by commissioning inexperienced advisors. Again a typical example of no working Master Plan in place.

With our third serving President, all hell has broken loose. What is the solution?

Develop a working Master Plan for the fourteen regions to the satisfaction of our nation which can be monitored by the office of the President. A computer programme needs to be devised which can feed information from each line Ministry from each region. The results from information received can be used to keep all persons accountable, in check and ensure that specific duties are being performed in a satisfactory manner.

We need to develop a working Master Plan for the delivery of bulk infrastructure services and projects to promote economic growth throughout the fourteen regions.

Finally, Government leaders need to make civil servants feel important within the Government and recognise performance.

Don’t forget where we are coming from. Let us take the Old Katutura and old Khomasdal townships and redesign them into SMART cities where we utilize land by going up and not outwards. A well designed SMART City can reduce the housing backlog by up to 75%, keeping in mind current serviceable land is unaffordable.

With the support of the Government of the day we can hold a two day workshop which will be held in April 2020 to discuss and unpack the idea behind a Master Plan for bulk infrastructure and economic development. The invitation needs to be open to all town planners and construction industry stakeholders from both the public and private sector. The workshop can be the foundation for a new beginning. This is my message for our 30 year anniversary for 2020.