TransNamib appoints manager for turnaround project

THE board of TransNamib Holdings has appointed Johan Piek as executive turnaround project manager effective from 15 October.

The company recently announced a 180 day turnaround plan.

Dantagos Jimmy-Melani, official spokesperson of the board said in an interview yesterday that the board was working on a plan on how the N$400 million pledged by the government will be spent.

Jimmy-Melani said the 180-day turnaround plan was meant to focus only on key areas of operations and not all operations.

The company has already signed an agreement with General Electric for the refurbishment of locomotives. Jimmy-Melani said a medium term plan will be established to look into the refurbishment of other locomotives including the ones TransNamib bought from China.

Piek’s focus will be on the revival of the 12 GE locomotives, supporting the human resources restructuring process, addressing the operational shortfall and long standing debt.

Piek will simultaneously develop and implement the medium term strategies focused on rail infrastructure and technology upgrades, while targeting revenue maximisation and implementing effective financial and risk controls.

Piek has 21 years of experience as an investment banker. He holds a BJuris LLB and Honns BCom from the University of the North-West (Potchefstroom), MCom Accounting from the University of Pretoria and a LLM from the University of Virginia in the USA. He was a professor of Commercial law for 15 years and a practicing lawyer for three years before he started his investment banking career. During his academic career he co-authored a number of books on commercial and tax law. Two of the noteworthy transactions implemented during his seven years as investment banker in Namibia was raising funding for Ohorongo Cement, with a project cost of N$2,5 billion and putting a funding package of N$1 billion together for a new Airbus A330 for Air Namibia to use on its routes to Frankfurt.

“Piek has been tasked with executing the turnaround strategy with due diligence and care while managing the downside risks of such a process and reporting back to the board on a regular basis. This is yet another commitment by the board to ensure that all promises made are delivered on timeously and within the proposed budgets,” Jimmy-Melani said.

Part of the turnaround plan is to come up with a medium, term infrastructure and revenue stream development strategy.

“We are confident that these goals will be achieved and even exceeded, Jimmy-Melani said.

Piek welcomed his appointment and said he was looking forward to the challenge.

“My key performance indicators are to assist management to ensure the successful implementation of the 180-day turnaround plan and the three-year turnaround strategy. I am pleased that my appointment will free up the CEO and senior management of TransNamib so that they can continue concentrating on the pressing day-to-day operations that require urgent attention while the turnaround strategy is being implemented,” he said.

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