After noting the behaviour of the Erongo people roaming around in search for electricity, Namibia’s ErongoRED Company has decided to bring electricity to the isolated rural region.
The regional energy distributor spokesperson Benjamin Nangombe confirmed that families have had to split up to increase the number of shacks that would be set up around the new nodes and more people that do not live in the actual community have suddenly appeared around the nodes. This has led to uncontrollable chaos in the community.
While addressing the press, Benjamin Nangombe said: “We have a plan we work according to, which covers a certain area in a community that in turn involves a certain number of households in the area. But once the people learn that electricity is coming their way, shacks start mushrooming around these nodes, and everyone demands that they are connected to electricity.”
According ErongoRED company chief executive officer Fessor Mbango, electrification projects will soon be launched in the Hakahana settlement at Omaruru, and Saamstaan settlement at Usakos. Besides, electrification projects in Tatamutsi and Goagomes settlement areas are nearly completed. The company invested N$50 million in the electrification of over 3 000 homes in rural and peri-urban areas in the region since 2015.
ErongoRED aims to make electricity accessible to everyone in the region. The electrification of rural and peri-urban communities is part of “power to the people’ vision 2021 of the company. However, to achieve this, significant investment with the bulk upgrade projects were done in various towns to strengthen the network so that the company can distribute electricity to both residents and businesses.
“We will only know from the outcome of the next national survey how many people still do not have access to electricity, but our mission remains to bring power to the people, and more villages and settlement areas will be connected with time. By the end of the year, 217 more houses are expected to be electrified in peri-urban and rural areas,” concluded Mbango.
