WINDHOEK – The Namibia Standards Institute (NSI) on Tuesday joined the world metrology community in commemorating 2014 World Metrology Day.
NSI Chief Executive Officer, Riundja Kaakunga, said the convention has set the framework for global collaboration in the science of measurement and in its industrial, commercial and societal applications. He said the original aim of the Meter Convention, which regulates the worldwide uniformity of measurement, remains as important today as it was in 1875.
The day was commemorated with the theme ‘Measurements and Global Energy Challenge.’ To emphasize the importance of measurements in everyday life, some selected chemicals and measuring equipment were displayed in the event hall by Hypsometric System, a local company which supplies chemicals and testing equipment. Chairperson of the NSI, Dr Martha Kandawa-Schulz, highlighted as notable achievements by the NSI in the last five years the accreditation in 2011 of the NSI food laboratories at Walvis Bay to the international standard ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and the continuous expansion of the scope of accreditation to meet industry testing needs.
“This follows barely two years after the accreditation of the NSI fishery inspectorate in 2009 to ISO/IEC 17020:1998, which is the general criteria operation of various types of bodies performing inspection as has been revised in 2012,” she said.
She said having accredited facilities at Walvis Bay is of great benefit for the local fishing industry, as Namibia’s fish and fishery products can now be confidently exported to worldwide markets based on acknowledgement by the NSI that the products are tested, inspected and certified as being safe for human consumption.
“Supporting the Namibian fishing industry in this manner is but one way through which the NSI is playing its part in enabling Namibia to become more industrialised, as envisaged by Vision 2030,” she said.
Minister of Mines and Energy, Isak Katali, whose speech was read by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Kahijoro Kahuure, said like the rest of the world Namibia also faces a growing global energy challenge in the coming years until the year 2016 when a new base load power station is expected to be commissioned. He said it was clear that with the growing economic growth fuelled in the main by mining coupled with population growth and the influx of rural people to cities, the country was faced by a huge problem of meeting the demand for energy. Katali said in addition to various power purchase agreements (PPAs) being negotiated with neighbouring power utilities such as South Africa’s Eskom, Zimbabwe’s Zesa, Zambia’s Zesco and others, the government remained open to the use of all kinds of renewable energy supply solutions derived from a greater mix of energy sources. He therefore called for the continued improvement of power quality measurement in order to improve the stability of transmission grids. “More complex electrical power metering would be needed to ensure the consistency of supply of energy that the country buys or even sells if needed,” he said.
By Kuzeeko Tjitemisa