Erasmus Shalihaxwe
Rundu urban councillor Victoria Kauma has called on the Rundu Local Authority Council to accelerate the process of identifying land for building sports facilities in the town.
Kauma made the call during the recent belated Independence Day celebration held at the Rundu Sport Stadium.
She said Kavango East Governor Hamunyera Hambyuka has already instructed councillors to identify land for sports facilities as part of a national directive to address the lack of such infrastructure.
“We should come up with new land to develop sports facilities in this region. This is going to be a standard sports facility in Rundu. Currently, the other five constituencies have already procured land where they will build their sports facilities,” said Kauma.
The Minister of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture, Sanet Steenkamp, announced last week that the government has set aside N$35 million to construct stadiums in all 14 regions.
She stated that the stadiums will be built according to Confederation of African Football (CAF) category two standards, each with a seating capacity of 10,000.
This comes after President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, in her first State of the Nation Address last month, said the government will start building and renovating seven CAF category three stadiums with 30,000-seat capacity in Oshakati, Rundu, Windhoek, Outapi, Swakopmund, Eenhana, and Keetmanshoop.
She also announced plans to establish multipurpose youth centres in Mariental, Nkurenkuru, and Opuwo.
Steenkamp also recently told Parliament that her ministry has contacted all 14 regions and received feedback on site identification.
She said the aim is to start building at least one facility in each region during this financial year, adding that this month, the ministry will begin procuring consultants to carry out feasibility studies at the identified sites.
“This is a critical step because it will provide clarity on several issues, including current land ownership and the technical feasibility of the identified land,” she said.
