Namibia to invest in Walvis Bay port

By Shapi Shacinda, Reuters, Wed 17 Oct 2007

Namibia expects to borrow nearly $200 million from international lenders to expand its Walvis Bay port and plans to build a major railroad from the facility to boost trade with neighbouring countries, officials have said.

The Namibian Port Authority (Namport) will spend $189 million to expand the port to handle more imports mainly destined for Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said its general manager for operations, Lumumba Kathindi.

A feasibility study had been completed for the expansion of the port and an international tender would be issued early in 2008, he told reporters.

"We realise there is a growing demand for the port and we have committed heavy capital investment to the tune of 1.3 billion Namibian dollars," Kathindi said on Tuesday.

"We are now doing some technical polish up so that we can go for an international tender. We will borrow the money from international lenders," Kathindi added.

Johny Smith, the business development executive for the Walvis Bay Corridor Group, a Namibian firm which operates the port's route to Zambia, Zimbabwe and the DRC, told reporters that a 700-km (434 miles) rail line from the Namibian city of Grootfontein would be built to link up with Zambia's Katima Mulilo border post and that would boost regional trade.

A rail line exists between Walvis Bay and Grootfontien and the new line will serve as an extension.
"Our focus is on trade facilitation through a cheaper and faster route. We are targeting the copper mines in Zambia, which are moving a lot of heavy mining equipment and also importers of agricultural equipment and cars," Smith told reporters.

"A feasibility study would be completed in March next year and thereafter we will cost the project and source the funding to start construction works," Smith said.