A task team will as of Monday visit regional and local authority councils to assess the cause of the huge debts owed to NamWater and Nampower.
The team will also visit the Northern Regional Electricity Distributor (Nored) as part of the assessment.
This follows a cabinet directive to the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD) and that of Finance and Public Enterprises to commission a comprehensive assessment in order to facilitate a permanent and sustainable solution that takes into account the negative impact of the huge debts owed by regional and local authority councils to the two national corporations on their financial and operational performance.
According to an internal memo of the MURD on Friday, seen by Nampa, the exercise will examine and profile the extent of existing accumulated debts owed by the councils to the two national utility corporations; the root causes of debt accumulation; the ability of local authorities to settle their existing debts; and the ability of local authorities to work out practical arrangements to settle existing debts and avoid future debt accumulation.
It further read that the task team to be led by the MURD is made up of other officials/representatives from the Ministries of Finance and Public Enterprises, Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Mines and Energy as well as the Electricity Control Board (ECB), and Nored.
The assessment tour will be divided into two groups, with the first starting on 17 July in the //Karas region and ending on 18 August in the Erongo region.
The second group will begin on July 17 in the Hardap Region and end on 13 August in the Otjozondjupa Region, it stated.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency