Eveline de Klerk
Walvis Bay
The CEO of Namport, Bisey Uirab, says the government is not solely responsible for developing the country’s economy.
He says it is the responsibility of all Namibians, with the backing of both the public and private sectors, to work in partnership with the government to get the country’s economy up and running.
Uirab, who was responding to Namibia’s recent Moody’s downgrade, said the economic outlook can be changed if all realign their priorities and become innovative economic contributing entities.
He was speaking at the mid-year-budget review consultation meeting held last week by the Minister of Finance, Calle Schlettwein, in Walvis Bay.
In cementing Namport’s position towards economic development, Uirab said, the port has witnessed positive trends in terms of trade and cargo volumes.
“We are seeing some positive signs and hope that they will move in the right direction. We are confident we will see more of these positive signs and can so contribute to our economy,” Uirab said.
Namport, also in a statement released last week, indicated that a consignment of 1,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, destined for Swakop Uranium’s Husab Mine, was offloaded in July.
Earlier last week the port also shipped out 25,000 tonnes of salt to the United States of America.
During an earlier interview with New Era, Namport indicated they have recorded a slight increase in the total container throughput capacity for the 2016/2017 financial year, compared to the previous financial year 2015/2016.
Salt exports surpassed their expectations with bagged salt recording the highest export volumes and showing an increase of 100 percent in terms of exports, and bulk salt showing an increase of 10 percent for the 2016/2017 financial year.