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Local News|
Friday, January 21, 2005 - Web posted at 7:53:51 GMT Bid to revive sleepy Aus LUQMAN CLOETE at KEETMANSHOOPAUS village plans to establish an information centre by May in an effort to attract tourists to this small settlement in the South. |
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Aus has close to 700 inhabitants and is situated 200 kilometres west of Keetmanshoop. The Karas Regional Council has agreed, in principle, to donate one hectare of land to the Aus Community Conservation Trust (ACCT) for the establishment of the tourist information centre. The gesture towards socio-economic development of the region was made during the first ordinary meeting of the regional council at Keetmanshoop on Wednesday. Nature Investments Managing Director Manfred Goldbeck, who is co-ordinating the information centre project, said the acquisition of land would facilitate the completion of the first phase of the project. The first phase includes the construction of the tourist information centre at a cost of about N$1 million. The centre is planned to be up and running in May. The second phase would include the renovation of dilapidated old historic buildings into museums. The European Union (EU) has already donated N$500 000 towards the project, while Succulent Karoo pledged N$600 000, Goldbeck told The Namibian. Two mining giants - Roessing Uranium and Namdeb - have also expressed their eagerness to assist in the project, the co-ordinator said. Goldbeck said Aus hoped to attract about 20 000 tourists a year to the settlement, through the information centre. "We want to exploit the untapped potential such as the Nama Karoo, Succulent Karoo, Dune Namib, feral horses, and traces of crucial events in history," he said. |
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