Walvis Bay Corridor Group celebrates 15 years
From the left, Walvis Bay Corridor Group CEO, Johny Smith, H.E Dr. Hage Geingob, Hon. Alpheus !Naruseb with Namibian Ports Authority CEO and Corridor Group Chairman, Bisey Uirab.
Geingob made the remarks at the 15th anniversary of the Corridor Group held in Swakopmund on 28 August.
“One important sector selected to boost our industrialization drive is transport and logistics. I thank the WBCG for the relentless effort it has put into developing routes between our ports and border points, as well as the rest of SADC,” Geingob said.
The Walvis Bay Corridor Group was established in 2000 to promote the utilisation of the Walvis Bay Corridors, which is a network of transport corridors principally comprising the Port of Walvis Bay, the Trans-Kalahari Corridor, the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lumbumbashi Development Corridor, the Trans-Cunene Corridor, and the Trans-Oranje Corridor.
Both Geingob and the Minister of Works and Transport, Hon Alpheus !Naruseb, have revealed that plans are currently underway to revamp the country’s rail sector in order to boost trade.
“In addition to the upgrading of our rail infrastructure, expansion efforts of our railway lines should continue. These include strategic projects such as the railway line between Botswana and Namibia, as well as the railway line between Namibia and Zambia, via the Zambezi region,” Geingob said.
Walvis Bay Corridor Group Board Chairperson, Bisey Uirab, said that the time is ripe “to transform our transport corridors into economic development corridors so that they ultimately become a network of supply and distribution channels linked to our key strategic port, the port of Walvis Bay.”
“I am confident that the completion of the port expansion project at the Port of Walvis Bay by 2017 will go a long way to establish Namibia as a regional logistics hub and will further support the government’s stated intention to develop an industrialized economy,” he said.
