New terminal complete in 2017

The construction of the Port of Walvis Bay’s new container terminal on reclaimed land is on schedule. This week Mr Yuanfei Feng, acting Project Manager shared some information regarding the status of the project.

The terminal construction is part of the harbour expansion and is being constructed by the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC). According to Feng, “the completion of the project is scheduled for 18 May 2017.” “We are very proud to say that we have made great strides in what is expected from us to perform,” said Feng.
Providing some background information in his presentation, Feng said that the project commenced on 19 May 2014 and the first major deadline will be on 4 February 2016 when reclamation must be completed.
“By 11 April 2016, the quay wall must be completed and by the end of August the same year, the revetment must also be completed. Ship to Shore Equipment (STS) Fabrication must be done by 26 September 2016 and by 20 December 2016, the ground improvement segment of our contract must have been completed,” he said.
Currently there are over 126 Namibian employees working on the project. Said Feng, “the total number of Namibians to be employed over the total duration of this project is 300. I must mention, however that this will be in various phases of the operation. The project is in various stages and phases and each phase or stage has its own human resource requirement.”
In terms of local spend, Feng said, “we are happy to report that over N$100 million has been spent locally. This has mainly been on procuring vital items and elements such as cement, stone,  fuel, vessel repairs, design, insurance and customs clearance. The contract requires that 31.8% of the total contract value be spend on local procurement over the thirty six month period and we are confident that this target will be met.”
Added Feng, “ in addition, N$170million has been allocated to assisting SME development. This means that CHEC would make concerted efforts to engage SME’s in providing certain goods and services. This will primarily be in the last phase of the project, when facilities construction starts.
Meanwhile in terms of health and safety it was stated that no injuries were reported on the project.  Feng said, “we are fully committed to health, safety and environment issues. We are also fully aware of the environmental impact such a plant may have, especially for residents nearby, the nearest of which is 70 metres from the plant.” “Therefore, we have placed various control measures in place to mitigate some of these environmental impacts. In order to ensure dust minimisation and control,” he said.
Feng thanked NamPort and the government for allowing them to construct the project.“We are honoured that these two parties have chosen CHEC to be the contracting party on this project. We believe that this project will change the way Namibia does business and will take this country to greater heights. This project we believe is going to further cement this great honour,” he said.