Staff Reporter
Namibia this week signed off on a total of N$2 billion concessional loans co-financed by German Development Cooperation, through the KfW Development Bank. These concessional loans are intended to fund the construction and rehabilitation of key water and road infrastructure in the country.
The loan agreements were signed on Tuesday, 13 December 2022, by Ipumbu Shiimi, Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises, Abraham Nehemia, CEO of NamWater, Conrad Lutombi, CEO of Roads Authority (RA), and Beatrice Lucke, Country Director to Namibia of the German Development Bank, KfW.
As the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with more than 80% of its land area covered by desert or semi-desert, Namibia regularly experiences extreme and prolonged periods of drought. This results in a highly sensitive water supply situation for the country and the Windhoek central area which requires precise demand management, management of existing water resources as well as urgent development of new ones.
The KfW Development Bank, on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, is financing projects that will help safeguard Namibia’s water supply. As such a concessional loan of N$746 million is intended to secure the water supply for the country’s central through the construction of a second Direct Potable Reclamation Plant (DPR 2).
In addition, a second concessional loan to the value of N$932 million was signed to support the Namibian Water Sector Support Program (WSSP).
Although Namibia has one of the best road networks in Africa, access and availability to transport services, and thus the opportunity to participate in social and economic life, is extremely unevenly distributed regionally and between the different income groups.
In addition, the costs for mobility are very high in an international comparison. Due to these factors government has recognised the importance of transportation in its strategic objective set out in the NDP5 and HPP2 with a view to become a logistics hub in the SADC region. Despite the massive investments in transport infrastructure over the last decade, funding needs are still huge due to ageing roads, underserved rural areas and insufficient funds for maintenance.
Thus, the concessional loan of N$373 million will be used for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the B2 section between Karibib and Usakos, and form part of Trans-Kalahari Corridor and the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Road. This important road rehabilitation contributes to the economic objective of having a well-functioning and high-quality transport infrastructure connected to the most important local and regional markets as well as to the port of Walvis Bay. The road will be upgraded to a one similar to Okahandja Karibib Road.
Potable Reclamation Plant II (DPR 2)
A second Direct Potable Reclamation Plant (DPR II) will help increase the water resources for the citizens of the Central Area of Namibia with potable water. In the late 1990s, when the first Old Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant from 1958 came to the end of its lifespan, KfW on behalf of and with funds of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, financed the country’s first reclamation plant. This New Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant (DPR 1) today provides Windhoek with up to 25% of its drinking water.
DPR II is intended to be implemented by NamWater at the same time as upgrade works are carried out for the City of Windhoek (CoW) waste water treatment plants. This will increase the amount of water that can be reused, allowing for up to 50% of Windhoek’s water supply to come from the two Direct Potable Reclamation Plants. This highly innovative, resourceful and not least sustainable approach is not unique in a Namibian context but world-wide.
As such, Namibia, through NamWater and the City of Windhoek, continue to lead the way internationally when it comes to direct potable reclamation.
Namibian Water Sector Support Program I
To assist Namibia in the rehabilitation and upgrading of its extensive bulk water infrastructure, KfW is providing a loan in the amount of N$932 million to support the Namibian Water Sector Support Program (WSSP). As the water situation in Namibia is becoming increasingly precarious, government has developed an extensive list of priority water projects for the country. This list is intended to help safeguard Namibia’s water resources and water infrastructure, both existing and new, and the financial support will focus on high priority projects as identified by government. The projects will be carried out by NamWater as the project executing agency with the primary focus of projects being in the northern areas of the country as well as the central coastal area.
These include, but are not limited to, the replacement of parts of the pipeline Omdel-Wlotzkasbaken and Schwarzekuppe-Swakopmund, as well as the rehabilitation of parts of the Calueque-Oshakati Canal and a new water pipeline for the Oshikuku Bypass. The program also includes the Katima Mulilo Purification Plant which entails the rehabilitation and extension of the existing water abstraction system (intake tower) and purification plant.
These water security projects are aimed at ensuring that the targets set through the National Developmental Plans of the country are achieved, thereby ensuring water supply security for Namibia.
Support to NDP5: Road Rehabilitation
The stretch of 33 km between Karibib and Usakos will be resurfaced and extended to allow for improved traffic flow and road safety. Construction works are planned to start in the second half of 2023. RA and KfW are particularly proud to include local companies in the construction, allowing Namibian SMEs to implement at least 25% of the contract amount. The contractors have been trained throughout the more than 30 years of cooperation in the transport sector between the two countries.
KfW has been supporting the expansion of the Namibian road network through grants for access roads and labour-based road construction since independence. The labour-based construction approach creates jobs by training local workers and SMEs that can take up work in the road construction sector.
Additionally, since 2016 KfW funds the expansion and maintenance of major corridor roads through concessional loans. Large parts of the main corridor roads are being rehabilitated and partly extended to contribute to the economic development of the country. To date, the construction of more than 1800 km of roads has been co-financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW in close cooperation with the Namibian Government through the RA.