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Cape Town - The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and Namibia have signed a $338m sovereign guaranteed loan to Nambia Ports Authority (Namport) to finance the construction of a container terminal at Walvis Bay New Port.
The AfDB Group approved the construction of the container terminal project as part of its 10-year strategy and focus on infrastructure development and regional integration.
The bank also provided a $2.3m to the Namibian government for logistics and capacity building to complement the port project loan.
Ebrima Faal, regional director of the AfDB’s Southern Africa Resource Centre, said: "This project is important for Namibia and for the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) region. It is critical to fulfilling Namibia’s aspirations to become a world-class logistics hub in the Sadc region."
According to Faal, the project will boost international and inter-regional trade as well as regional integration.
"With the high levels of youth unemployment, the Bank’s support to Namport and the Government of Namibia will greatly improve private sector development and youth employment and will especially boost women participation in the logistics sector," he said.
The project will enable Namport to triple the container-handling capacity at Walvis Bay from 350 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 1 050 000 TEUs per annum.
It will also finance the purchase of up-to-date port equipment and the training of pilots and operators for the new terminal. In addition, it will fund technical support and capacity-building as well as the training of freight forwarding agents, with particular emphasis on women.
The project will boost regional competition, with the ripple effect of reducting transport costs and increasing economic growth. Port efficiency and cargo volumes are expected to rise by 70% in 2020.
- Fin24
The AfDB Group approved the construction of the container terminal project as part of its 10-year strategy and focus on infrastructure development and regional integration.
The bank also provided a $2.3m to the Namibian government for logistics and capacity building to complement the port project loan.
Ebrima Faal, regional director of the AfDB’s Southern Africa Resource Centre, said: "This project is important for Namibia and for the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) region. It is critical to fulfilling Namibia’s aspirations to become a world-class logistics hub in the Sadc region."
According to Faal, the project will boost international and inter-regional trade as well as regional integration.
"With the high levels of youth unemployment, the Bank’s support to Namport and the Government of Namibia will greatly improve private sector development and youth employment and will especially boost women participation in the logistics sector," he said.
The project will enable Namport to triple the container-handling capacity at Walvis Bay from 350 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 1 050 000 TEUs per annum.
It will also finance the purchase of up-to-date port equipment and the training of pilots and operators for the new terminal. In addition, it will fund technical support and capacity-building as well as the training of freight forwarding agents, with particular emphasis on women.
The project will boost regional competition, with the ripple effect of reducting transport costs and increasing economic growth. Port efficiency and cargo volumes are expected to rise by 70% in 2020.
- Fin24
