WINDHOEK – The Arandis Town Council (ATC) yesterday said that it has a jam-packed economic development calendar to attract both local and foreign investors to the town. This follows the recent announcement that an Arandis-based manufacturer, Yellow Drum Manufacturers (YDM), will be closing its doors due to lack of support from the mining industry, which remains the backbone of the Namibian economy.
“This year we will be combining the Arandis Investment Conference with the first ever Mining Festival. We will not only focus on local investors but hope to attract foreign investors as well,” said the Arandis Town Council’s public relations officer, Andrew !Hoaeb. Adding that the event will take place during the first quarter of 2015, !Hoaeb said a focal point will be the strengthening of small and medium business at the town.
According to !Hoaeb the 2015 investment Conference will be even bigger than the first two and will include a celebration of how the mining industry has contributed to the wealth of Arandis, the Erongo Region and Namibia at large. The Theme of the conference will focus on industrialisation and what !Hoaeb describes as countless opportunities that exist in Arandis.
Meanwhile, YDM has bemoaned lack of local support, specifically from the mining industry, as a major factor contributing to the closure of the business that reportedly has a potential turnover of N$14 million per annum. “Our drums were all SABS and UN certified. So quality was never an issue. Our prices were also lower than the landed costs of the imported drums. Areva fully supported us without any problems and Langer Heinrich Uramiun also bought the bulk of their drums from us. They kept buying from South Africa just as backup and in case something happened to us. Rossing conducted all the tests but never supported us for no reason and I do not want to speculate about their reasons for not doing so. The even had people from Rio Tinto (London) at our plant who asked them to support local businesses but to no avail,” said Robert de Villiers, marketing director of YDM. He noted that other sectors that supported YDM included the fuel industry, the tar industry as well as Agra.
According to the Chamber of Mines of Namibia, the mining industry’s contribution to Namibia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013 dropped to 9.3 percent from 10.8 percent in 2012 according to preliminary statistics re- leased by the Namibia Statistics Agency of Namibia (NSA). This was largely attributed to depressed commodity prices, escalating input costs and declining ore grades. “Although contribution was not particularly seen in GDP growth for the year in review, significant investments were made in the mining industry. According to chamber statistics, fixed investment by chamber members made in 2013 more than doubled from 2012, totalling N$8.5 billion,” said Chief Executive of the Chamber, Veston Malango, in his 2013 annual review of the industry.
Meanwhile, Arandis is preparing for another shopping centre which will accommodate Woermann Brock as well as the construction of a fire station to assist with emergency services in and around the town. Also,
Arandis was scheduled to commence with the provision of water and sewage lines to its industrial extension in January 2015.
!Hoaeb continued that the commencement of operations of essential service providers such as retail and banking institutions has stimulated other industries to approach the council. He also remarked that the ATC has adopted a 20-year structure plan to avoid ad-hoc planning. “In this plan, the council has made provision for residential, industrial, light industrial, general residential, institutional and commercial erven,” said !Hoaeb. The new layout for Arandis consists of approximately 1500 erven that are expected to accommodate five new townships, which will contribute in doubling the size of Arandis when fully developed.