New hotel, hospital planned for Lüderitz

The Lüderitz shoreline and skyline could soon be transformed by the presence of a state-of-the art beachfront hotel, a specialised hospital and apartment blocks.Construction of the beachfront hotel, as part of the third phase of the Lüderitz Waterfront Development project, could commence before the end of this year to address frustrations and concerns regarding the lack of accommodation in the town. "This is a must-have for the harbour town. It is frustrating that whenever we have an event here, people are struggling to get accommodation and we intend to resolve that,” said Lüderitz Waterfront Development Company (LWDC) CEO, Fluksman Samuehl.He hailed the development of the Lüderitz Waterfront as a mega project. “The preliminary plans for the construction of the hotel are in place but have not yet been costed. I can, however, tell you confidently that the hotel that we have in mind will not cost less than N$350 million. The same goes for the hospital, which will be constructed as part of the fourth phase. It will be a modern private facility allowing people to come to Lüderitz for advanced medical treatment.” PartnershipsSamuehl explained that the majority shareholder for the next phases of the project, which also includes a shopping mall, should come from the private sector. “We are now moving into public-private partnerships, and because of that, the funding model will be different. Our contribution to these projects will be in the form of the land. We have to evaluate the land, which is prime land. Should there be a shortfall of land, we are going to approach commercial banks and talk to our shareholders.”He highlighted that Lüderitz has not seen any investment in terms of establishing another hotel since 1998. “We had a discussion about the beachfront hotel project with Gys Joubert, the MD of Gondwana. They are the best and the leading hospitality establishment in the country. The company has taken black empowerment on board, their financial position looks very healthy and they have embraced governance. We are going to do a feasibility study and will make an announcement in terms of the public-private partnership.”ExpandingSamuehl said Lüderitz has to restyle itself as soon as possible. “We need to quickly push forward the process of extending the town boundaries so that there is land to put up housing, educational facilities like schools, hospitals and other amenities. We also need to improve the ageing infrastructure. A stable water and electricity supply is critical.”He pointed out that if LWDC had not intervened with the transformation of the Old Lüderitz Power Station building, which was done at a cost of N$500 million as part of the second phase of the Lüderitz Waterfront Development project, it would have been very difficult for Hyphen, which is driving the green hydrogen development, to find space to operate in Luderitz. “The Namibia University of Science and Technology is also housed in this building. Failure to land this project here would have had a detrimental impact on the courses that they are rolling out to support the energy sector. We also have Hyphen and Fly Namibia as tenants and will soon start with the construction of a double office block for the LWDC at a cost of N$16 million.”The first phase of the project included Harbour Square, shops, restaurants, offices and flats. It laid the foundation for further development of the project, with an estimated N$35 million spent on infrastructure, public facilities and various structures.DrawcardSamuehl said the idea is to attract people through conferences or initiatives driven and promoted by the LWDC. “The town must become a drawcard for visitors coming either for business, culture, education or sports. When they do come, those with hospitality establishments, restaurants, retail outlets, the banking sector, the SMEs, and the entire community will benefit.”He said there are also plans to establish a media studio in the revamped Old Luderitz Powerstation building. “We are already in conversation with the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation and details thereof will be announced.”According to him, the Namibian government is convinced that the development of the Luderitz Waterfront is on the right track. “We do not doubt that we will get the support we need from our shareholders. There have been many waterfronts that have been created and dived. We are still here because of good governance and strong leadership.”

New hotel, hospital planned for Lüderitz

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-14

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New hotel, hospital planned for Lüderitz

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-14

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