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Germany supports de-bushing
GERMANY will support efforts in Namibia to fight bush encroachment and a new project will be implemented in due course, according to that country’s Minister for Economic Co-operation, Dirk Niebel.
The Minister discussed the new project with President Hifikepunye Pohamba at State House on Friday afternoon during talks that lasted over an hour.
“This idea to regain grazing land from farms encroached by invader bush species came up during our discussions. I attended the roof-wetting ceremony of the new Ohorongo cement factory near Otavi on Thursday and it will be fired with coal and wood chips where possible. Coal could be produced from the harvesting of invader bush, which would create a lot of jobs,” Niebel told reporters.
“We still must see if the new de-bushing project will be run in co-operation with Ohorongo or extended to other regions on Namibia on a larger scale and with development partners.”
According to Niebel, in this way 80 per cent of Ohorongo’s annual requirement for its cement kiln could eventually be produced locally. “President Pohamba has requested us to look into such a project and soon,” he added.
Ohorongo indicated a while ago that it would be interested in using local charcoal from invader bush.
The Ohorongo cement factory will use 8 000 tons of coal per annum once in production later this year. About N$2.5 billion were invested into the plant by the Schwenk group, the largest private investment from Germany supported by various loans.
The coal will be imported from South Africa. Negotiations with South African suppliers have been ongoing and the first consignment of coal is expected to arrive in Namibia in September this year through the Walvis Bay harbour.
The plant will also burn plastics, wood chips, carcass meal, bone meal and used tyres to produce 2 100 tons of cement per day.
This factory is expected to contribute one per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
