The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) has signed MoU with the City of Windhoek
NUST signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the City of Windhoek, aimed at producing innovative knowledge and practices to transform the urban future of the capital city and the country at large. The two parties have worked closely in the past and this MoU was signed to formalise the partnership.
Image credit: NUST
The municipality’s vision is to transform Windhoek into a Smart and Caring City by 2022. This entails restoring the City’s ability to govern more effectively, focusing on ensuring financial sustainability, affordability, technological advancement, cleanliness, greenness, vibrancy, and innovation.
To achieve this, Robert Kahimise, CEO of the City of Windhoek, emphasised the importance of collaborating with institutions of higher learning.
“This saves municipalities millions of public funds on projects such as research and many others, which would have been spent on hiring consultants,” he said, adding that the MoU is an underpinning framework to access innovative solutions that address municipal challenges.
The main areas of collaboration through the MoU, include: Research and Development; Urban, Transport, Environmental and Human Settlement Development; Water, Sanitation and Electricity; Adequate Housing; and Disaster and Emergency Management.
“NUST hosts many of the disciplines concerned with urban development under one roof. We have land administrators, town and regional planners, architects and urban designers, quantity surveyors, engineers, statisticians, economists, social scientists, surveyors, IT experts, health scientists, ecologists, among many others,” remarked the NUST Acting Vice- Chancellor, Morné du Toit.
Through the Integrated Land Management Institute (ILMI), the University has steadily increased its efforts in addressing urbanisation challenges across the country.
It is projected that as the Namibian population grows, an additional two million people will have to be accommodated in urban areas in the next thirty years. This is attributed to internal growth and migration to urban areas.