Keetmanshoop: The Keetmanshoop Municipality has unveiled a budget of N.dollars 444 million for the 2025/2026 financial year, marking a 20 per cent increase from the previous fiscal year’s budget.

According to Namibia Press Agency, the municipality’s Strategic Executive for Finance, Deseree Boois, presented the budget during a community meeting on Wednesday. Boois highlighted that 18 per cent of the budget increase will be directed towards filling vacant positions within the municipality. The current organisational structure accommodates 233 employees, but only 170 positions are filled, 150 of which are permanent.

The budget allocates approximately N.dollars 230,924,231 to operational costs, while N.dollars 213,564,425 is designated for capital projects. Municipal plans include spending N.dollars 88 million on salaries, N.dollars 120 million on general expenses, and N.dollars 18 million on repairs and maintenance.

Capital projects for the 2025/2026 financial year include upgrading the water network (N.dollars 6 million), road network upgrades (N.dollars 14.4 million), land servicing (N.dollars 75 million), and procuring a yellow fleet (over N.dollars 9 million).

Boois disclosed that the municipality owes NamWater over N.dollars 52 million. To address this, the municipality plans to introduce prepaid water meters in every household. A total of N.dollars 23.5 million has been set aside for the purchase of smart prepaid water meters in the upcoming financial year. “We have started with the prepaid meters. We got the first 500 meters, but they are not enough to help us clear the debt, so we plan to get more to help us with the recurring water debt,” Boois explained.