Africa-Press – Namibia. Business Reporter
THE Namibian and Zambian government has unlocked opportunities for the private sector as the two states signed a private sector-led infrastructure development project, which will see the construction of an oil and gas pipeline from the port of Walvis Bay to Zambia.
If executed as planned, Mines and Energy Minister, Tom Alweendo, said that this project has the potential to unlock economic potential, not only for Namibia and Zambia, but for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region as a whole.
Alweendo signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Zambian counterpart, Peter Kapala.
“This project will be a great example of the regional cooperation as envisaged by the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan. This plan calls for more collaboration and less competition among the member countries. It is said that if you want to go fast, go it alone; but if you want to go far, go together. As a region, we need to go far,” Alweendo said.
The mines minister explained that the biggest challenge on the African continent is access to energy, where more than 600 million Africans do not have access to energy.
“What we have on the continent is energy poverty. One of the contributing factors to the energy poverty we are all experiencing is lack of energy transport infrastructure. For some time, gas will become the most important source of energy on the continent and therefore having gas pipeline to transport the gas more efficiently will be critical,” Alweendo said.
He added that regions such as Europe have extended oil and gas pipeline network.
The EU pipeline network has a combined length of nearly 50 000 km.
Although this is a private sector-led project, Alweendo said that the two governments accept that their economies will grow and industrialise better and quicker when they have strong private sector involvement.
“We also understand that our economies will flourish when there is collaboration between the government and private sector. Hence our two governments’ commitment to assist with this project,” the mines minister stated.
Also commenting on the matter, Peter Kapala, Zambian Energy Minister said that the Namibia- Zambia Multi – Product Petroleum and Natural Gas Pipelines Project (NAZOP) once completed will supply 100,000 to 120,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products in Namibia and Zambia and other countries in the SADC Region.
“Given the volatility of international oil prices, there is need to take advantage of means that reduce the cost of delivering petroleum products and natural gas to our respective peoples.
It is for this reason that I am glad that our two Countries have achieved this milestone, of agreeing to cooperate in supporting the development of such key infrastructure,” Kapala said.
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