WINDHOEK – Construction work is well underway to redesign the parking lot of the Windhoek Country Club Resort and Casino for the upcoming United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 11) conference. Two domes worth N$8 million are being built that will house over 3 000 delegates during the eleventh meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP11) to be held from September 16 – 27.
According to Martin Macphail, event director, the process is slightly ahead of schedule and will be handed over to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) by next Friday September 13.
At least six more structures will be erected around the Windhoek Country Club Resort and Casino to accommodate support staff as well as various secretariat representatives for the next two weeks, he elaborated.
Macphail noted that the B1 national road and the Western Bypass would not be cordoned off as was rumoured despite the influx of traffic, however traffic will be regulated by police supervision during peak hours to prevent traffic jams.
“The residents living in Golf Estate will be using the road on the western side of the country club. We are happy that they are cooperating with us, we have also got permission from the Roads Authority and TransNamib railway services to re-open that route,” said Macphail adding that the railway crossing is under permanent guard because of the two scheduled trains which use the passing railway line.
Residents of Golf Estate will be using the route exiting on the western side of the resort that passes over the railway crossing cutting into the busy Western Bypass.
Delegates will be transported to and from the Country Club in 25 luxury coaches, 20-seater busses and 15 smaller micro-busses and will be travelling on three colour-coded routes.
This is the first time that the conference is held in Southern Africa. Namibia is to host this prestigious conference on desertification, climate change and the loss of biodiversity, issues that were identified as the greatest challenge to sustainable development during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
By Jemima Beukes