The Government has launched an internal investigation on the Drought Relief drilling project in all 14 regions for 2019/2020, amid allegations that contractors inflated prices.
A team made up of officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform (MAWLR), the Prime Minister’s Office (OPM), and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) will dig deeper into the matter to determine if the government was indeed overcharged.
Agriculture Minister Calle Schlettwein confirmed the investigations to The Brief, saying the probe began in the middle of last year and is still ongoing.
“The report on the investigation into borehole pricing is not yet finalised. The team is going from region to region and have not yet covered all. Once finalised we could share it, but unfortunately not yet now,” he said.
The Minister, however, said he has requested a preliminary report, which is expected later this year and will shed more light on the investigation’s findings and progress.
The drilling projects arose from the government’s annual vulnerability assessment and analysis, which revealed that drought conditions will persist in the Kunene Region and parts of the Erongo and Omusati Regions, prompting the Cabinet to approve a drought relief program for these regions with a budget of N$160.3 million.
The approved drought relief programmes caters for 35,000 households in Kunene Region, 4,000 households in Erongo Region and 10,000 households in Omusati Region.
As of March this year, the government has financed under the National Emergency Disaster Fund, drilled/ installed/ rehabilitated 52 boreholes in the three regions, specifically, 21 boreholes in Erongo, 20 boreholes Omusati and 11 in the Kunene Region.
