Edgar Brandt
Windhoek-Namibia’s development partners should assist the country in addressing its priority areas and not only in their own areas of expertise. This request was put forward yesterday during the Development Partners Forum where the Minister of Economic Planning, Tom Alweendo, met with ambassadors, high commissioners and other high-ranking officials who were briefed on the fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) and its implementation strategy. The forum took place at the United Nations House and was hosted by UN Resident Coordinator, Kiki Gbeho.
During the forum government officials hoped to receive feedback from development partners on possible areas of support for NDP5.
“Partnership was an integral part in drafting NDP5 and partnership should be integral in the implementation of the plan,” Alweendo told participants at the forum.
“Partnerships offer new solutions for development agendas and such partnerships cannot be underestimated,” said Gbeho.
She added that the UN is developing its next partnership framework and that the UN is Namibia’s development partner of choice.
Gbeho said she wants to ensure a coordinated support to the country’s development agenda.
The projects identified in the fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) require N$164 billion in monetary terms to be implemented and are expected to be funded from a multitude of sources, such as through government budgetary allocation, private sector funding, funding from development finance institutions, institutional savings, public-private partnerships (PPPs) and of course, where viable, donor funding.
Lucia Iipumbu, deputy minister of Economic Planning, recently explained in parliament that of the total N$164 billion estimated cost to implement NDP5, N$73.3 billion, or 45 percent of the total required investment, will go towards physical infrastructure expansion and modernisation in sectors such as water, energy and ICT.
N$32 billion, or 19 percent of the required amount, will go towards social development, social protection, sanitation, housing development, land servicing, youth empowerment and sports development, while N$30 billion, or 18 percent of the total required amount, is required for human capital development such as investment in all levels of education and health and nutrition.
Also, N$19.4 billion, or 12 percent is required to enable structural transformation and N$7 billion (four percent) is the estimated required investment for the promotion of good governance such as the promotion of public service delivery and transparency, effective implementation of decentralization and the preservation of peace, security and rule of law.
The remaining N$2.6 billion (two percent) is the amount required for environmental sustainability and management as well as climate change mitigation.
In total, the NDP5 Implementation Plan has 80 programmes that are to be implemented through 178 projects over the next five years.
NDP5 consists of two volumes, the Policy document that sets out the priorities of the country and the Implementation Plan that outlines financial requirements and implementation modalities.