Namibia considers water subsidies

Namibia: Gov't Considering Water Subsidies for Poor
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
The Namibian government, frequently accused of making water unaffordable to the poor, is finally taking steps to address this countrywide problem that threatens to hamper the country's efforts to meet the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by world leaders at a special United Nations General Assembly meeting in 2000. The government is considering the viability of including water subsidies for poorer families in a new development plan set to begin in April 2008. "I first have to buy a card that I put in the meter box to draw out water. I don't always have money for this and sometimes the money in the card just runs out before I can fetch enough for my family's daily use," Babakie Goreses told IPS. Goreses is one of several thousand residents of the 'informal' Babylon settlement in Windhoek's sprawling suburb of Katutura ... The latest statistics show that 40 percent of Namibia's two million people currently live below the poverty line of one dollar per day. Seventy-nine percent of rural households do not have proper sanitation, and 20 percent of the rural population does not have access to safe drinking water ...