No civic services for Babylon Nelly Shikongo Thursday, September 18, 2014 - 13:00 News Basic services such as electricity, health care, the provision of water to houses and schools, toilets and recreational facilities, remains a pipe dream for the residents of the informal settlement Babylon in Windhoek. Some people are reportedly fetching water from public toilets for their daily chores as the unemployed cannot afford to pay the monthly N$100 to recharge their pre-paid water cards to the municipality. Selma Nghishongwa, a resident of Babylon explained that once a month residents have access to the service of a mobile clinic. “The problem is that people here only benefit from the mobile clinic once a month,” she said. She said pregnant women are suffering as they have to go to the Katutura State Hospital for ante-natal care services and there are no taxis available due to the dusty gravel road. Customers have to pay double, up to N$40 to go to the Katutura State Hospital to access health and medical care. Normal taxi fares are N$10. Approached for comment, Councillor Tobias Hainyeko Zulu Shikongeni has explained he is aware of the lack of infrastructure in Babylon such as tarred road, clinics and electricity. “The setback is that it is very complicated to construct a tarred road in Babylon because those people do not have erven, and we do not want to remove them from their illegal places and some will be affected by the road construction. We are working in partnership with the City of Windhoek, but we still busy looking for a place where those that will affected by the road construction be will relocated to,” Shitongeni said. He added that the construction of the tarred road in Babylon is due to begin in 2016 and will cost N$30 million, but there are currently no plans to supply electricity to Babylon.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 15:00:00 +0000