The City of Windhoek (CoW) has commenced plans to expand its waste disposal facility with Kupferberg waste disposal site which is used for the disposal of all general and hazardous waste generated within the City approaching the end of its cell life.
Current space estimates indicate the remaining life of the general waste disposal cell to be in the order of three and a half (3.5) years, and that of the hazardous waste disposal cell to be in the region of about three (3) years.
Given that Kupferberg is the only site in Windhoek, it is of vital importance that investigations and development to avail landfill space for the disposal of waste are done well in advance to avoid the catastrophic possibility of not having landfill space for general and hazardous waste, Council acknowledged last week adding that it is therefore prudent to pro-actively commence with the relevant studies to investigate any potential for more optimisation of the current site and its surroundings to increase its lifespan, followed by the planning, design and construction of new cells to ensure sufficient time for developing the required infrastructure and facilities.
Business Express understands that the construction phase generally takes about two years to complete.
“Council resolved that ring-fencing of the Kupferberg Landfill will require additional revenue (or alternatively cut in expenditure) to fund the services currently cross-subsidised by Kupferberg and that the Kupferberg Landfill operation be ring-fenced to allow a standalone business case for sourcing funding of the construction phase.
“Council will devise a mechanism to ensure the revenue gap left by the ring-fencing of the project is addressed. The Strategic Executive: Finance and Customer Services in consultation with the Strategic Executive: Infrastructure, Water and Technical Services will source external funding from suitable financing institutions on the ring-fence business model,” latest Council minutes read.
Budgeting
Meanwhile, Council resolved to approve the participatory budgeting process of the Municipal Council of Windhoek and that Councillors and officials participating in the budgeting process ensure that stakeholder expectations are managed and to ensure that tariff adjustments are kept minimal.
“The budgeting process forms an integral part of the annual planning to focus on key projects required for the City. The current structure dictates that we engage the public and thus source their input. Our participatory budgeting has been practised in the Municipal Council of Windhoek where all major capital projects emanated from citizen requests directly and through citizen representatives.
“This involves engaging many stakeholders, the first interaction with the broad-based communities at public meetings, and consultations with the Khomas Regional Council (KRC) and its Constituency Development Committees together with other key stakeholders. A workshop will be organised where each department will present and defend their Budget to Council to create a better understanding of the Municipal Council of Windhoek’s Budget,” the City said further stating that appropriate initiatives will be taken to educate the communities of Windhoek on the intricacies of the Municipal Council of Windhoek budget estimates.