By Berio Mbala WINDHOEK A multimillion-dollar depot that will offer motorists a safer, cleaner, efficient and cheaper alternative in the form of auto-gas to petrol and diesel-driven vehicles, was inaugurated in Windhoek last Friday morning. It is said that the depot will be the biggest wholly-owned fuel depot in the country so far, and the fuel, which is regarded as safe and clean, offers a range of properties closest to those of petrol. This depot will hold 140ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 litres of Liquified Petrol Gas (LPG) at any one time to serve as vehicle fuel, fuel for domestic heating and cooking and fuel for other industry applications. The depot boasts unequalled technology and safety standards in Namibia. Managing Director of Autogas Namibia Limited, Antonio Mendonca, said at the inauguration that the venture is a Namibian-owned company in association with Sprintgas Australia and Spring-gas that have been assisting Autogas Namibia to ensure a smoother transfer of technology. Mendonca said the main focus is to provide opportunities for massive savings to be achieved in both fuel and servicing costs by organizations operating medium to large fleets of corporations and government vehicles. Giving the keynote speech, the managing director of Easigas, Mr Sherperd Shonhiwa, said: “The company started out in the late Eighties as Shell Namibia, selling the LPG under the Shell Gas brand name, and in the Nineties the company decided to second a dedicated sales manager from South Africa for seven months to establish a robust LPG business model.” After the seven months, sales volumes increased by 75% to get a share of the market. “In that period, a strong customer value proposition was introduced by management support to help our distributor and customer optimize on their investment, security product supply from our refinery in South Africa and other established sources, marketing sales expertise tailor-made for LPG as a special product,” he stated. At the same occasion, Willie Mokgatle, country chairman of Shell Namibia, said: “We are indeed excited to be part of this development and confident that it will result in a strong synergy and demand for Easigas and Autogas for this initiative.” “Easi-Gas is part of the Shell Group of Companies and is primarily responsible for the provision of the gas solutions,” he stated. He added that LPG, with its economic efficiency and environmental advantages, has the potential of playing a vital role in meeting the world’s expansion energy needs whilst, at the same time, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With the ever-increasing challenges on air pollution and global warming, the use of gas as a clean source of energy is fast gaining global recognition, he added. “In Africa, the energy challenges continue to grow. We still have communities that have no access to hydroelectric power, communities that rely on firewood as a source of energy. And this is a challenge which requires a joint effort between government, national and international companies to work together in strong partnership in order to come up with innovative and sustainable energy solutions,” he said. “Shell is committed to continually seek solutions towards improving the lives of communities where we operate” he said. “It is our wish that Easigas and Autogas, in their quest to provide energy solutions to the people of Namibia, will do so in an environmentally-friendly manner, he said. Giving the words of thanks at the commissioning, Dr Helena Ndume, one of the directors of Autogas, said: “We at Autogas have the vision of where we want Namibia to be in the gas industry.” Concluding her remarks, she said that the government and the people of Namibia are very grateful to Autogas for providing energy to the nation, and she called upon the people of Namibia to make use of this product.