Windhoek moves to formalise informal settlements through large-scale planning drive
The City of Windhoek has launched a large-scale planning and formalisation process aimed at addressing the rapid expansion of informal settlements and the persistent shortage of serviced land in the capital.
The initiative follows findings from a national data collection exercise conducted by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development between June 15 and July 2, 2025, across 57 local authorities. The exercise revealed that Namibia has 419 informal settlements, of which 150 are located in Windhoek.
According to the data, about 606 435 people, representing 176 708 households, live in informal settlements nationwide, while Windhoek alone accounts for 213 234 residents across 67 077 households.
City officials say the rapid growth of these settlements has resulted in multiple socio-economic and environmental challenges, including inadequate sanitation, limited access to essential services such as water, sewerage, and electricity, environmental degradation, pollution, outbreaks of communicable diseases, and safety concerns.
To address these issues, the municipality has embarked on a formalisation process that includes statutory town planning, environmental management, land surveying, and land registration procedures. The large-scale planning programme covers several subdivisions expected to yield 11 226 proposed erven once completed.
City of Windhoek CEO Moses Matyayi said the municipality is prioritising land-use planning processes to accelerate township development planning in informal areas.
“Given the informal settlement expansions in the city, it has been our imperative to tackle the first things first, which is the land use planning (township development planning) process for our informal settlements to be fast-tracked and completed in meeting the national targets and improving the livelihood of our residents," Matyayi said.
However, the planning process has faced delays due to statutory requirements such as environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and flood studies, particularly because of Windhoek’s mountainous terrain.
“It emerged that one of the lengthy processes that has been an impediment to fast town development planning is the requirements for EIAs and flood studies due to the mountainous landscape, which requires flood studies for future mitigations,” Matyayi explained.
Consultants have already been appointed to conduct flood studies in areas where assessments are required before permanent structures can be recommended for settlement.
Under the current programme, 20 informal areas require EIAs before applications can be submitted to the Environmental Commissioner for approval. “These two outstanding processes are critical to provide planned land to our residents, which is an enabler for tenure security and by extension could easily assist in expediting registration into individual land ownership in the deeds office,” Matyayi said.
He warned that failure to complete these statutory steps could derail the city’s plans. “If this process is not completed, the Urban and Regional Planning Board… will reject our township establishment applications, which may set us back in achieving these goals,” he said.
In line with the Environmental Management Act, the city has already placed public notices inviting interested and affected parties to participate in the environmental assessment process. The first set of notices, published on 5 March 2026, covers four EIA groupings involving 18 proposed townships that are expected to yield approximately 3 587 erven.
These include areas such as farms 1026, 1027, 1028, and 1029; farms 1008, 1007, 1006, 1009, R/1016, 1017, 1035, and 1019; farms 1033 and the remainder of 999; Okatunda and Okandundu; and sections of Havana.
Matyayi said the city has already completed five scoping studies as part of the environmental process.
“As you may observe from the adverts in the newspapers and our media release, our internal environmental consultant has been assigned since December 2025 to work on these EIAs with speed and has now finalised these five scoping studies, which now must be consulted upon for any views or comments as required by the Environmental Management Act,” he said.
The municipality also plans to improve access to basic services in the meantime through its Universal Access to Electrify project. “Council approved a project called the Universal Access to Electrify. Hence, we will be using the draft town development plans to provide or electrify connections to households in the informal areas as part of our enabling process for access to basic services in the peri-urban areas. This process is due to start in the next month or two,” Matyayi said.
Residents have been invited to participate in public consultation meetings scheduled throughout March at locations in Havana, Max Mutongolume, Otjomuise, and Farm 1008. Members of the public may also register as interested and affected parties with the city as part of the environmental consultation process.
Once the EIAs and flood studies are completed, the city will submit the township establishment applications to the Environmental Commissioner, the Urban and Regional Planning Board, the Surveyor-General, and the Deeds Registrar for further consideration.
City officials say the programme forms part of Windhoek’s broader efforts to improve living conditions in informal settlements while advancing its goal of becoming a sustainable and caring city.
