Namibia has secured about N$94 billion worth of investment opportunities with the potential to create 122 000 jobs, CEO of the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board Nangula Uaandja said yesterday.
“We have a significant pipeline, what we call active investments, that we are using. In this pipeline, there is that huge amount,” she said at State House, where the NIPDB executive committee and advisory board met President Hage Geingob yesterday.
“The amount excludes the big investment of Hyphen Energy (the preferred bidder for the green hydrogen project), but there are a few green hydrogen projects that are included.” According to Uaandja, promoting Namibia at this point in time is a very easy task due to new developments the country has confirmed, such as green hydrogen and recent oil discoveries.
She said this momentum has placed Namibia at the forefront in the international arena. The NIPDB CEO added that the country is experiencing a significant increase in investment inflows that are knocking at the country’s doors, looking for opportunities to invest.
“Renewable energy is the favourite, and also other sectors such as agro-processing, agriculture, transport and logistics as well as business services.” Uaandja said Namibians have been around the globe to attend different meetings for which these efforts are targeting national investment promotion.
She added that now is the time for Namibia to devise solutions through various stages of project implementation on how to support investment opportunity drivers, regardless of whether these are local or foreign direct investments.
She further presented President Geingob with specific opportunities, going into detail on some of the investments in the pipeline, indicating how these will impact the domestic economy, and specifying which geographical regions will be targeted. “When an investor approaches us, we record that contact and move it to various stages and it leads to where a financial investment decision has to be made, and where it should be deployed.
Along the pipeline, there are various numbers of stages where a potential investment needs to go through. Unfortunately, there is a point where you come to a certain investment, and sometimes due to feasibility studies or other constraints, the lead gets terminated, and there are some others that are still waiting for specific policies,” she explained.
Namibia is faced with numerous challenges, including high unemployment and severely reduced economic activity. Uaandja noted that previously, foreign direct investments, although numerous, could not create adequate local employment. Now, she said, the focus is to ensure new investments promote inclusive growth and are targeted at creating decent employment. -mndjavera@nepc.com.na