By Mbatjiua Ngavirue WINDHOEK There are conflicting views on what the future holds in terms of economic development for Grootfontein – the once prosperous and proud economic capital of North-Eastern Namibia. The huge South African colonial military presence in the Eighties and Nineties contributed to an artificial economic boom in the town, which then came to an abrupt end after independence. To add to Grootfontein’s woes, other economic mainstays of the town such as cattle-ranching and maize-farming went into decline, preceded some time before by the closure of the Berg Aukas zinc and Abenab vanadium mines. Mayor of Grootfontein Rapama Kamehozu remains upbeat about the town’s future, however, saying Grootfontein’s economic prospects look bright. According to the last census, the town has an estimated population of 47ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000, and is growing. A good portion of the town’s population, are military personnel stationed at the military base on the outskirts of Grootfontein. The base is believed to be the biggest military base in Namibia, although the Namibian Defence Force’s policy is not to divulge exact numbers for national security reasons. Defence Force personnel, however, contribute significantly to the level of economic activity, presumably now on a more sustainable basis than the pre-independence military presence. Residents of Otjituo, Coblenz, Okamatapati and Tsumkwe areas that rely on the town for their shopping also help to boost the local economy. According to Mayor Kamehozu, the town is slowly but surely moving forward, with 350 new plots serviced for housing. The town has so far built 75 new houses as part of the first phase of its housing development programme, and is planning to embark on 200 new houses in the second phase. The municipality started the housing programme as part of its efforts to comply with central government’s policy to do away with single-quarter accommodation dating back to the migrant labour system. The idea is to relocate single-quarter residents to the new housing development and then either demolish or redevelop the single quarters into individual family units. Before the current housing programme, the municipality built 35 pilot houses in 2003/4, which residents occupied in 2005/6. The MalaNami Project, a Malaysian-Namibian joint venture, also built 20 houses, later bought by the municipality. The Build Together programme also built between 30 and 40 houses each year, with a total of 88 houses since 2003. In the Blekkiesdorp informal settlement – with an official population of 2ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 residents – the Shack Dwellers’ Federation is working towards providing residents with proper housing. They bring groups of people together who deposit savings of N$7ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 500 who then qualify for loans of N$15ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 to build themselves a house. The federation has so far built 15 houses for Blekkiesdorp residents. The municipality is also trying to facilitate the development of a new shopping centre on the Namox lot – opposite the municipal complex on the main road running through town. This land, however, belongs to TransNamib, and negotiations have been somewhat protracted to acquire the plot. The Council is also looking toward creating an informal industrial park on another empty lot, not far from the same main road, but near the western entrance into the town. According to Kamehozu, several business interests have so far expressed interest in investing in the new shopping mall. Not everyone, however, is enthusiastic about the proposed new shopping mall, fearing that – as has happened elsewhere – the influx of South African chain stores will kill locally-owned businesses. J. “Shorty” Branco, manager of the local OK Supermarket – owned by Daniel De Jesus – pointed out that already business in the town is very slow. He said that although business picked up towards the end of a month, it would then drop drastically in the middle of the month. Branco was confident that even if a shopping centre opened, with the ever-ubiquitous Shoprite as a tenant, OK Supermarket would survive although the amount of business would go down dramatically. “The market is not big enough, and although there is some trade from Otjituuo and Tsumkwe, that is not enough,” he added. Mayor Kamehozu also mentioned the reopening of the Berg Aukas Mine and the construction of a tarred road between Gobabis and Grootfontein as possible developments that would boost the economy of the town. Employees of Berg Aukas would live and spend their money in Grootfontein, making the reopening of the mine particularly welcome. However, neither of these two developments is by any means certain. The reopening of the Kombat, Berg Aukas and Abenab mines are all plagued by the same problem – the almost insurmountable force of nature posed by the underwater aquifers of the Karstveld. Ongopolo Mining has invested heavily in pumps specially imported from Germany to evacuate water from the underground shafts at Kombat, but the outcome of the effort still hangs in the balance. Unlike the previous pumps, the new ones have the capacity to remove water at a faster rate than it flows into the mine. The problem, however, is that dolomite – dissolved in the water – wears out parts in the machines – which have to be imported from Germany – at such a rate that they constantly keep breaking down. Similar problems are likely to face efforts to remove water from Berg Aukas, plus the additional problem that the surrounding stone is so brittle that cracks will constantly have to be filled with concrete to prevent water from flooding the mine. JÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚¶rg SchlÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚¶der, owner of the local branch of Build-It, agreed with Branco that business in Grootfontein is quiet. “Business is stagnating. It is not going backward, but it is also not going forward,” SchlÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚¶der said. He was, however, less worried about the building of the new shopping centre and the influx of South African chain stores, taking the view that “if you can’t beat them, join them”. That is exactly what he did by teaming-up with the South African franchise, Build-It. He started the business 18 months ago, having concluded that he could not survive on farming alone and needed something to supplement his income. “If they have done their feasibility study and they feel a shopping mall in Grootfontein is viable, that is a good sign, because it must mean they believe there is going to be growth in the town,” he said. SchlÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚¶der mentioned that a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis was carried out on Grootfontein in 2004, with the local business community giving their input. “We put forward a lot of ideas that are currently being worked on, which is positive,” he felt. One of the proposals put forward was the construction of the tarred road between Gobabis and Grootfontein. The building of this road would bring economic development and access to modern amenities to settlements along the route, such as Otjinene, Okondjatu and other centres, depending on what route government chooses. Above all, it would make Grootfontein a crossroads on both the south-north, as well as the west-east trade routes. The new road would shorten the journey from Gobabis to Grootfontein by roughly 235 kilometres and would ease congestion on the B1 highway. Another proposal was: better utilization of the massive Grootfontein military base and airport, which are both currently seriously under-utilized. The army base could be better utilized by consolidating some of the scattered units of the Namibian army at Grootfontein. Grootfontein airport has one of the longest tarred landing strips in southern Africa, but the fact that the Namibian Air Force uses it, has hampered improved utilization of the facility. There has apparently been talk of moving the Air force to Karibib, which would then open Grootfontein airport to commercial and private air traffic – boosting both commerce and tourism.