By Mbatjiua Ngavirue The announcement that government is finally going to transfer the fixed assets of Namibia’s national resorts to the Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR), ushers in a new era for the company. The transfer of the fixed assets will allow the company to look forward to a stable and secure financial future from now on. The government has already transferred all movable assets to NWR, but the process of transferring the fixed assets, including land and buildings, is now set to begin. Well-placed sources indicate that the title deeds for the first five resorts which the government will transfer to NWR are Daan Viljoen, Gross Barmen, Hardap, Reho Spa and Waterberg Plateau. The transfer of these resorts is relatively easy because they are located outside proclaimed nature reserves, and surveying and demarcation of the land were completed long ago. In an interview last week, NWR managing director, Tobie Aupindi, said that as far as the company was concerned, it expected the government to transfer the assets of all the other remaining resorts soon. The former management team at NWR might justifiably feel this move is more than seven years overdue. Parliament passed the Namibia Wildlife Resorts Act, establishing it as a 100% government-owned company, in 1998. When the company started operating in 1999, government was supposed to launch it with N$20-million in working capital. In reality, however, government initially only gave N$10-million, with the second N$10-million only coming two years later. Out of these meagre resources, the company had to pay debts to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism for outstanding park entrance fees. With what little remained, it also had to pay salaries to a bloated staff component of 800 employees, besides having to cover other current operating expenses. Sources who know the NWR well, believe 400 employees could run the company, but indications are that it has reduced the 800 staff members to a more reasonable 600. The upshot was that funds were now left over for revamping the NWR accommodation establishments or for taking any other steps to promote more visitors to the resorts. The twin problems of insufficient capital and the inability to borrow money commercially – because it had no fixed assets to use as collateral – basically crippled NWR in the past. Even though government is the 100% shareholder in NWR, it seemed reluctant to transfer important parts of the nation’s patrimony to an entity not under direct government control. The Namibian government seems to have rather belatedly woken up to the important role tourism can play in the national economy – particularly after the fishing industry took a nosedive. The government appointed a team to devise a turnaround strategy for NWR with a new-found sense of urgency, and then appointed Tobie Aupindi as the new managing director of the company in April 2006. In an unprecedented move in June 2006, Cabinet also authorized a N$120-million government loan guarantee for the ailing State-owned company. Aupindi praises present Minister of Environment and Tourism, Willem Konjore, for having laid the basis for the transfer of the fixed assets. “To manage a company efficiently you need assets. Our business is tourism resorts, and you can’t run the business if you don’t have any resorts,” Aupindi said. He was now thankful that the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) had created the momentum for the transfer of the fixed assets to take place. Aupindi said all that remained was for the government to define boundaries and to survey and demarcate those resorts that lie within protected National Parks. NWR management was in fact due to hold a meeting with MET last week to thrash out remaining details surrounding demarcation of the resorts they have not yet finalized.