Project delays worry //Karas governor

//KARAS governor Lucia Basson has expressed concern over delays in implementing and completing regional capital projects while funds are available for such projects.

Addressing a meeting with education directorate officials at Keetmanshoop yesterday, she said such delays could impede development.

Basson added that she has received many complaints from officials at various government agencies in the region over project delays during her recent familiarisation visits, her first since taking office two years ago.

She thus requested education director /Awebahe Johannes //Hoëseb to update her on the planned construction of schools at Oranjemund and Vaalgras, adding that she was informed that the projects had been placed on hold due to a lack of funds.

Her comments come after a recent investigation by the urban development ministry’s auditors found irregular and wasteful spending of N$77 million in the region. That money was meant for capital projects in the region.

//Hoëseb informed Basson that those who told her that the school projects had ground to a halt had been “economical with the truth”.

“The issue of a lack of funds is news to me,” he said, adding that N$9 million had been budgeted in the 2017/18 financial year for the construction of a state school at Oranjemund.

The director explained that bids had been publicly invited for the construction of the Oranjemund school, and that the process has been completed.

However, //Hoëseb could not reveal much about the hold-up of the project, saying only the //Karas Regional Council, which was the implementing agency, could shed more light on this matter.

Basson also asked how far the education office had progressed with decentralisation.

//Hoëseb revealed that some functions have already been fully decentralised, and that the directorate was ready for the final phase.

Basson said she deliberately delayed her familiarisation visits to government entities because she first wanted to consult with the people of the region.

“I am a governor of poverty. That is why I have opted to first have consultations with the grassroots people following my appointment,” she noted.