Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

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Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010 i.e. waterborne sanitation. This is especially relevant in an arid country, because: 1. water is scarce and should not be wasted, 2. soils are usually poor and require fertiliser, 3. combining water and fertilizer can be useful in food production. Sunita Narain (2004:12) contends that in view of the water crisis of the world, “we need policies and practices that augment, minimise and recycle the resource. It is on this yardstick, when we measure the modern sewage system, we will find it is ecologically mindless and inequitous. This is because: • It is natural resource intensive: It uses materials, energy and generates waste. It has high • environmental and health costs. • It is highly capital intensive: It divides the urban population into rich and poor, that is, between people who can afford the expensive urban services and those who cannot”. generate electricity. For the Windhoek area a figure of 6.0 to 6.2 kWh/m2/day can be obtained. At present on a sunny day, the HRDC can run on 100% solar energy, if not too many activities take place. Excess energy is fed into the municipal grid and at night electricity from the grid is provided. This has the advantage that no batteries have to be used to store energy, as batteries are very environmentally unfriendly if not disposed properly and very expensive to replace. Shortly after completing the first phase, a local private school adapted the system for its school. Once feed-in tariffs are available in Windhoek the two institutions can generate electricity and a small income from selling electricity. Solar energy is also used to obtain warm water for the kitchen by means of a solar water geyser. In addition the HRDC promotes solar cookers, which are manufactured in Namibia. A project is underway to utilise one of the workshops to produce box cookers locally as the suppliers do not meet the demand for these cookers. The various sanitation systems at the HRDC illustrate the fact that a large center can be independent from a municipal sewer network. Every aspect of sanitation can be handled on site. What is required is an attitude and confidence in what is regarded as waste is in fact a resource. 5.2 Energy Due to the fact that Namibia has excellent solar radiation, solar technology was installed to generate electricity. For the Windhoek area a figure of 6.0 to 6.2 kWh/m2/day can be Energy prices are increasing annually. In Namibia it is expected that parity will be reached shortly, i.e. the cost per unit from solar energy sources will be the same as for grid electricity. Thereafter grid electricity will become more expensive than solar energy. It therefore makes sense to invest in this technology. Another versatile fuel is biogas. The plant at the HRDC is primarily used for educational purposes. This has generated interest by builders and several individuals, e.g. farmers. However, there are very few builders 24
Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010 in Namibia, capable of constructing a biogas plant. Such a plant requires quality work to ensure that the investment is worthwhile. To build capacity it is planned to cooperate with a network partner in Lesotho to provide the necessary training. 6. Education and training 6.1 Skills training in alternative materials and construction methods The HRDC is constructed from a wide variety of materials, including non-conventional materials. Therefore the builders were not acquainted with many of the techniques. Inservice training was as a consequence a key requirement. Initially frustrated with working with stabilised blocks, which do not require mortar, they struggled with the first few layers. Once they understood how to work with the blocks, one builder declared: I am building my house with these blocks. The construction process then proceeded to such an extent that it was ahead of schedule after a few weeks. The learning curve by the contractor was also evident. For the first construction phase stabilised soil blocks cost R3.50 per block, whereas in the final phase the costs dropped to less than 50%. The reason was that stabilised blocks were unknown to the main contractor, who therefore increased the price per block to cover the perceived risk. The same contractor also built the remaining facilities of the final phase, based on his earlier experiences. During the final construction phase a group of trainees was included. They were trained in theoretical and practical aspects of construction, ranging from tyre construction to producing bags for insulating the ceilings. A private sector firm executed the training with experienced teachers. One of the halls was used as classroom and an outside area was constructed for practical exercises. Afterwards the trainees worked on the construction of various buildings. Training and skills transfers are regarded as very important. Once the HRDC has established that a material, technique or technology is suitable, capacity building is required to have competent artisans, who can use these materials or methods. This is also part of marketing a product or technology. This has been successfully done by the Clay House Project, which constructed a clay house (compacted clay foundation and clay block walls) at the show house area of the HRDC. 6.2 Education and advocacy The HRDC has one primary function: to educate. This is not limited to particular strata in society, but includes everyone from preprimary school to university. Guided tours are one opportunity to show visitors the various materials, technologies and approaches. Some of these provided ideas, which were used in several tourism projects, such as construction of houses with bottles, sandbags, and tyres. The Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia bought a block-making machine in July 2009, to manufacture stabilized blocks for its projects, after members were convinced that after five years at the HRDC the blocks were still in a very good condition. One example may suffice to illustrate the process of promoting one of the items exhibited 25
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