Windhoek
Following years of negotiations to buy the N$3 billion Areva Resources Namibia desalination plant in the Erongo Region, government has revealed that significant progress has been made on the potential deal that is to be submitted to Cabinet for ratification.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Abraham Nehemia, in an interview on Wednesday said the government negotiating team has responded positively and drafted a report that was submitted to the ministerial committee two weeks ago.
“Areva has given us an offer. We have done studies and looked at the plant with due diligence. We have now prepared a report that we have sent to the minister to hand to Cabinet for final consideration. We are waiting for feedback,” he noted.
On the content of the report he said everything was leading to negotiations and he could not shed light on the issue “at this stage”.
“The more we expose ourselves, the more we make ourselves vulnerable to the other side. So we have to be sometimes careful not to expose government, otherwise we will be in a weak position when negotiating. But there is good progress,” he said.
The new development comes as government seeks to implement long-term plans and strategies to beef up water supply to the coastal towns and industries in Erongo.
When government through the water utility, NamWater, embarked on the journey to purchase the desalination plant, its expectations were for the plant to start supplying water by 2016.
Nehemia said the final report on the matter from the government negotiating team via the ministerial committee on desalination was submitted two weeks ago to the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, John Mutorwa, for final consideration.
Mutorwa was however not available for comment.
This comes after the government through Mutorwa strongly reiterated Cabinet’s standing decision that the negotiating parties must do everything possible to speed up and successfully conclude the negotiation process, as per the relevant agreements, which negotiations must ideally and practically result in the purchase of the desalination plant.
Meanwhile, Areva Resource Namibia communications specialist, Sugnet Smit, earlier told New Era that Areva looks forward to concluding the negotiations with government.
When asked on the price put on the table for the plant, she said: “We are not going to reveal any costs before we sign the agreement. It’s too sensitive to mention costs. We are waiting for them and look forward to the negotiations to be concluded.”
In September 2014, Cabinet appointed a government negotiating team consisting of senior civil servants to handle all relevant issues relating to Cabinet’s decision to purchase the only available desalination plant in the country, which is currently privately owned.
The country is currently experiencing water shortages, with government resorting to strict measures to stem the situation.
Most, if not all, the central and coastal towns and businesses in Erongo Region have been historically supplied with water from the Kuiseb and Omdel aquifers. The aquifers’ volumes have however been decreasing over the years. The region has no perrenial rivers.The agreement will enable NamWater to supply its customers with water from the country’s first desalination plant, which is situated at Wlotzkasbaken, some 30km north of Swakopmund.
The plant currently supplies water to the Husab and Rössing uranium mines and if the government buys the plant, these two mines would still be supplied with water.
The plant has a design capacity of 20 million cubic metres annually. Currently, the Erongo Region’s annual demand is at least 11 million cubic metres of water.
Negotiations for the government to acquire the desalination plant started in 2014 for its eventual handover to NamWater.