Africa-Press – Namibia. IT IS NOT uncommon in Namibia to have a massive project toward the end of every decade, which coincides with the end of the Presidency. We have seen it over the past two decades, from the railway to the north, to the mass housing project. The project for the end of this decade is even bigger, better and more hyped: Namibia’s green hydrogen project.
Naturally, green hydrogen is one of the ultimate solutions to achieve net-zero emissions, not only in Namibia, but globally as well. Scientifically, the gas is produced with the help of electrolysis through electricity generated from renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind.
But this requires an effective governance mechanism that always ensures complete alignment of project portfolio with corporate, economic, environmental and social objectives, and should be delivered efficiently, sustainably and effectively.
The green hydrogen project is by far and in many ways different from past projects. Firstly, the hype around the hydrogen project has by far surpassed the hype of any single big project Namibia has ever embarked on.
This can be attributed to a few things: One is the driver of the project, the economic adviser and the hydrogen commissioner of Namibia. One may whisper that the current economic adviser to the Presidency, is in no way comparable to the past office-bearers.
He appeals to many people, especially younger and middle-aged professionals who are hungry for change, and he is the team leader for the green hydrogen project.
Although the process of leading a team in achieving project goals within the given constraints is not an easy one, the incumbent is probably the biggest marketer and business development officer the Namibian government has had in ages.
Excellent project administration can mostly only succeed in a cross-cultural environment, through effective leadership, cross-cultural communication and mutual respect.
Secondly, the project touches on the green and blue economy, which the whole world cares about but does very little to achieve. This project is important emotionally.
Also, the orange economy has finally transpired in our small economy, which can be supported in many ways. The orange economy refers to everything that is developed through people’s creativity and inspiration, which then becomes a good or service.
Theorists believe that it is an evolving concept which builds on the interplay between human creativity and ideas and intellectual property, knowledge and technology. It is the knowledge-based economic activities upon which the ‘creative industries’ are based.
Thirdly, the investment in this project is equivalent to the size of the current national output of Namibia, credibly the first project of such magnitude to be implemented in Namibia in many years.
Surely, those three reasons alone should have motivated us as a nation at large to take advantage of this peculiar situation where we have an active economic adviser and gigantic, emotionally important project.
We should have used this opportunity to implement what is called a core-satellite approach. Under this approach, the special project would be the core, surrounded by satellite projects from other sectors irrespective of their nature or relation to the core project.
It is an open secret that the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) II pillars compete for scarce resources, unlimited inhabitant needs and unlimited economic sectoral needs in a foreign debt reliant economy.
Globally, we experience a highly volatile and complex environment that has enabled both new and existing players to be more innovative, and to conquer and even create, as well as penetrate new lucrative markets. We can only join this club of innovative and successful countries if we invest in as many high value export products as possible.
With the core-satellite approach, projects under various pillars do not have to be interdependent or have common objectives, but they must be impactful, quantifiable, classified and prioritised on a single basis.
This means that the small, and new projects should be drawn from the available options, based on existing resource limitations and the strategic direction of the guiding tool, to avoid duplication and exhausting one specific market/sector.
Notably, project selection and combination in HPP II is necessary, where a suitable project mix is essential for the accomplishment of the objectives of the pillars.
The danger with the current situation is that, fewer people especially those from the middle- to poor- income categories have a lot more issues to worry about, and a retirement project for the outgoing president – as many people term it, is certainly not one of them.
The effectiveness of achieving portfolio management efficiency lies in information availability and dissemination, goal setting and systematic decision-making for any project. We need to know what people need, want to hear and when to hear it.
In order to increase market competitiveness and realise value sustainably, policy and decision makers should possess the willingness to prioritise their national effort by using sound governance and account for strong portfolio management practices.
This should enable them to choose the right project initiatives by ensuring that they are aligned with the right strategy, and are achievable in the context of national objectives.
An individual from the local WhatsApp group recently made a joke that: the average Namibian knows more about Botha’s blood type than Hydrogen, a typical norm in developing countries – people care more about other things such as basic needs.
In Namibia, for instance, many households do not even have excess to electricity in their homes, and for those who do, they are less worried about where it comes from.
The type of energy at question or source thereof, is far behind in the hierarchy of problems for the average Namibian. And to be frank, even the average politician in Namibia couldn’t care less about the source of our energy.
But the excitement surrounding the hydrogen hype is mismatched. It should be understood that the hydrogen project is important and necessary, in addition to sounding nice and fancy. We definitely need more clean energy sources.
However, Namibia’s depressed economy can only achieve economies of scale to the greatest degree, if the country manages multiple projects and invests in new-digital technologies. The core-satellite approach is a perfect suit.
The green hydrogen project comes at the most desirable time, when the country struggles with energy self-sufficiency and high dependency on South Africa, and the entire Southern Africa Electricity Market (Stem).
We live in unprecedented times, young people are faced with multiple problems such as the Covid-19 pandemic with infinite variants, extremely high youth unemployment rates, negative economic growth, environmental and climate crisis, and many other social issues.
One would then have expected to have more than five or even 10 high-impact projects in response to these challenges. The implementation of multiple projects could have enjoyed a free ride alongside the hydrogen hysteria.
For instance, the government should have selected one project from each of the key sectors – for example agriculture, tourism, housing, sport and others, just to make people feel their other problems are being addressed as the country simultaneously tries to become a global leader in clean energy.
This could eliminate the potential time-invariant national influences on Namibia’s stance of innovativeness. Going forward, this could have been an opportune time to ask international investors, as well as domestic investors to plough into these sectors, alongside hydrogen investors.
Should the hydrogen project end up not being fully implemented or extensively delayed, the energy we have spent on it will be in vain. Nationally, empirical evidence on the danger of relying on one single project lies at the core of the failure of the Kudu gas project and the mass housing project, among others, which involved wasted scarce resources and time.
This failure should have informed us quite well on how to improve on the government’s project management skills and efficiency levels. Inasmuch as there’s infinite hope for a successful large project, the level of uncertainty and risks is the same. It is therefore substantial to have various top-notch but perhaps smaller projects to complement and safeguard us against the dangers and risks of a single project.
It is the duty of the inhabitants to ensure that national officials achieve the right results through effective programme evaluations and project delivery, and also see to it that they are responsive to their context through various platforms.
It is not too late though to identify, evaluate and add new candidate projects to the hydrogen campaign. This time, it will be good also to have various project champions in respective ministries, matching the energy currently found in the Office of the President.
The nation now knows that things can go quicker, projects can be marketed well and can even be promoted abroad. And this takes the right hiring, getting people with passion and removing politics from national projects.
We have been seeing this over the last two years, with the new cohort of people in the government and unparalleled collaboration between the government and the private sector.
It is expected, going forward, that the state consistently hires people who pull up their sleeves, are competent and have the ability to make things happen through public consultation, sound project management and most importantly, in a timely manner.
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