Billions flow for Ohorongo Cement

THE Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG) are officially on board to develop Namibia’s only cement factory, and have approved loans of nearly half a billion dollars in total to Ohorongo Cement.

This follows the European Investment Bank’s commitment of close to a billion dollars on Monday.DEG confirmed its go-ahead for a long-term loan of 31,5 million euros, about N$347 million, in a statement, adding that the DBSA will provide long-term financing to the tune of 18 million euros, nearly N$198 million.Debt financing for Ohorongo, arranged by DEG, now stands at 131,8 million euros, or close to N$1,5 billion. The company, wholly-owned by Germany’s Schwenk Zement, needs 250 million euros, nearly N$2,5 billion, to build the plant capable of producing 700 000 tonnes of cement a year between Otavi and Tsumeb. Its completion date is scheduled for 2011.’Africa offers big opportunities, which have so far been used by few German entrepreneurs. One of these pioneers is Schwenk Zement KG,’ DEG said in its statement. ‘With Schwenk, DEG supports a financially and technologically strong German family company in setting up its first production facility in a developing country. At the same time, DEG makes a contribution towards remedying the bottleneck of required building materials,’ the bank said.The development financier will also assist Schwenk with ‘know-how’ in the project, it said.The cement produced by Ohorongo will supply the local market, as well the market in southern Angola, ‘where the demand for building material is particularly high after the end of the civil war. This was also revealed by a study on the cement market in Angola, which DEG co-financed with funds for accompanying measures, so-called technical assistance,’ the statement read.It further stated that Schwenk is particularly committed to the development of human resources. ‘It will offer its employees opportunities for further training in co-operation with schools, universities, governmental institutions and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). On top of this, employees will be trained on site by experts from Germany,’ the DEG said.In addition, Schwenk is involved in various social responsibility projects, ranging from uplifting a social health clinic to renovating public places to the benefit of the inhabitants in the region, according to the DEG.