Rundu Sport Stadium without water, electricity 0 Grass on the football pitch at the Rundu Sport Stadium in the Kavango East Region is dying after the water supply was cut off about two months ago because the line ministry owed the municipality N$838 303.The bill had not been paid since the end of 2015, and local sports organisers were forced to stop all events planned at the venue because of the lack of water.
The sports officer in the region, Someno Erastus, said they are in communication with head office to fix the problem.
“We owe a huge amount of money to the town council and they cut off our water.
“I am worried that the grass is going to die and it will take us a long time to get it green again,” he told Nampa on Tuesday.
It is the only sports stadium for the Kavango East and Kavango West regions and can host football, athletics, netball and basketball events.
The stadium this year hosted the annual The Namibian Newspaper Cup, Namibian Police Games, Namibia Correctional Service Games and Namibia Defence Force Games.
Its temporary closure now hampers sports activities in the region.
“The stadium will soon just be dust instead of grass and I am worried that the same will happen to our sports in the region,” said Erastus.
Justice Kavari, a clerk in the sports directorate said the ministry received invoices late but they are working on a plan to fix the problem.
“I remember last year the stadium had a bill of N$100 000 and the directorate might have not settled the current account because invoices were not received and that might have increased to the figure in the picture now,” he said.
Asked about the size of the bill, the Rundu town council’s chief executive officer, Romanus Haironga, said the current bill included penalties.
“If water bills are not settled monthly we always add charges the following month.
“We also charge different rates for different locations, which might also have increased the bill depending on how much water was used on a monthly basis,” Haironga said.
Documents given to Nampa by an inside source show that water usage at the stadium cost N$39 787 in January this year, which dropped to N$27 011 the following month but skyrocketed from March onwards. By June, it stood at N$76 132.
The stadium is now without electricity too. The power supply was suspended on Wednesday because of an outstanding debt of N$59 486 owed to the Northern Regional Electricity Distribution Company. -Nampa