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African Development Bank visits Walvis Bay to inspect port upgrade project

African Development Bank visits Walvis Bay to inspect port upgrade project

A delegation of the African Development Bank is expected in Namibia on Monday 03 April for an assessment of the progress on the Walvis Bay Port expansion project, as reported by the trade publication, Freight and Trading Weekly.

Executive directors at the bank’s Group level will arrive on Monday for a 5-day visit to assess the impact of African Development Bank projects in the country.

According to a spokesperson for the directorss, Dr Zaghloul, the bank has seen tremendous growth in its partnership with Namibia, with the size of the bank’s portfolio more than doubling since 2009.

The on-going portfolio supports the country’s strategic vision to be a regional transport logistics hub and the strengthening of financial intermediation to support private sector development. Since commencing operations in Namibia in 1991, the African Development Bank Group has committed about USD705.42 million in 25 operations in the country.

Just over half of this funding, 54%, went to the financial sector and 41% supported the transport sector. The rest of the commitment is split among agriculture, power, social, water and multi-sector. “Namibia is increasingly becoming an active beneficiary of the bank’s projects with an ambitious portfolio to strengthen the country’s aspiration to be a top emerging economy in the southern region” according to Freight and Trading.

The country envisages becoming a regional transport logistics hub given its growing potential in the transport sector,” said Zaghloul.

Regarding the work at the Port of Walvis Bay, the bank said “The reclamation work is 100% completed as well as most of the dredging work. The construction of the passenger liner jetty is also on schedule,” quoting Namport’s acting manager of business development, Philemon Mupupa, when he provided a progress report at the 7th Logistics Hub Forum in Walvis Bay last year.

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Freeman Ya Ngulu

Freeman Ngulu is an investigtor, an author and a keen entrepreneur. His speciality is data journalism for which he loves to dig deep into topics often ignored by mainstream reporting. He tweets @hobameteorite.