The City of Windhoek on Thursday held a joint signing ceremony for various Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Windhoek Municipality and 16 local authorities from around the country.

Local authorities that renewed their agreements with the Windhoek Municipality are Gibeon Village Council, Gobabis Municipality, Katima Mulilo Town Council, Karibib Town Council, Keetmanshoop Municipality, Lüderitz Town Council, Maltah öhe Village Council, Mariental Municipality, Nkurenkuru Town Council, Oranjemund Town Council, Rehoboth Town Council and Stampriet Village Council.

Okahandja Municipality, Okahao Town Council, Ruacana Town Council and Tsandi Village Council also entered into new agreements with the Windhoek Municipality. The towns’ mayors, councillors and chief executive officers attended the signing ceremony.

In his keynote address, the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Utoni said the agreements emphasise the importance of unity, cooperation and shared vision in achieving a common goal.

“We all have a collective responsibility of initiating and implementing policies and programmes that promote the welfare and enrich the lives of the Namibian people, especially those at grassroots level. As a partner in the provision of services, our obligation as a ministry is to give you the necessary support in terms of capacity building, which includes training, funding and any other resources at our disposal with the mandate to ensure that you exercise your duties within the framework of national policies, laws and regulations,” Utoni said.

The areas of cooperation according to the agreements include capacity building, solid waste and sewerage management, resource sharing, town planning and township development, land management and infrastructure development, emergency services, laboratory services and councillors exchanges amongst others.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency