Govt turns down huge 'donation'

Government has rejected a 40 billion euro (N$657 billion) non-repayable donation from the African Experts Federation (AEF) because it is “just too good to be true”.“We have scrutinised and analysed this proposal and we feel we cannot accept it,” finance minister Calle Schlettwein told Namibian Sun on Friday. The investors seek to build several factories in Namibia, including steel, gas, plastic and concrete plants, as well as 30 waste-to-energy plants. Through the waste-to-energy plants, with a cash injection of 1 billion euro, the AEF envisions to create at least 1 500 jobs. Provision is also made for building more than 3 000 houses, a new national hospital with 350 beds and five regional hospitals to the sum of 3.9 billion euro.According to the documents, 1.2 billion euro has been allocated for the creation of jobs in industrial production. A sum of 1.5 billion euro has been put aside to equip universities to international standards and 6.2 billion euro for road construction, while 17.4 billion euro is to be invested in rail. The investors pledge to inject 3.3 billion euro into social housing, old people's and women's homes. They also plan to upgrade local universities and improve the resources for education and training.The group is also looking at investing in water supply and sanitation, the waste and energy industries, telecommunications and tourism infrastructure to the tune of 1.536 billion euro.In a telephone conversation with Namibian Sun's sister newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung, Klaus Schricker of K2 Global Services Limited of Hong Kong said this kind of financial aid is not imposed on anyone. “There are things in this world that are not necessarily understandable to everyone at the outset, but can be easily explained,” he said, adding that nothing stands in the way of having such a “conversation”.“But I want to know that I do not waste my time by travelling the world. Therefore, I insist on a basic declaration of interest before I take the next step. All questions and details can be clarified later as part of the discussions and negotiations, and then the country has enough time to clear up all remaining uncertainties,” he said.Schricker said it was simply incomprehensible why a country would not at least show some interest when the assistance offered amounts to several billion euro.The federation lists founding president Sam Nujoma as honorary president and Lt. Gen. (retired) Epaphras Denga Ndaitwah as acting vice-president.Ndaitwah confirmed his position with the federation but said, “I know about the investment but I am not able to comment on it at this point.” The local representative of the federation, Professor Frank-Michael Adam, who doubles as the head of Nautical Sciences at the University of Namibia (Unam), said it is an “utter shame” that the Namibian government has rejected the proposal. He also said it is strange for the government to have “scrutinised” the proposal instead of sitting down with the investors to discuss the proposed investment. “At least decency dictates that the investors' application should be either refused or the investor be invited to make a detailed presentation or be invited to negotiations, especially since it does not cost the government a penny,” he said. Namibian Sun has seen stamped documents which show that the proposal was received by the prime minister's office on 1 March 2019.After seven weeks of no response, the OPM responded on 16 April to confirm receipt of the documents. On 22 July this year the finance ministry was informed that if the investors did not receive feedback by 26 July, they would go public with the information. When Namibian Sun approached Schlettwein, he said: “The offer is just too good to be true. We need to know who is hiding behind such an offer and what state guarantees you will demand from Namibia. Nobody just gives away such sums and 40 billion euro is an amount that Namibia cannot even afford. Such an offer must be more specific before we consider it reputable.”Namibian Sun has seen the proposal, which includes the names of the investors, draft agreements, their location, and countries where the group has invested.The proposal also stipulates that the government must provide two copies of letters of guarantee that the projects exist, are realistic and will be realised with the money invested. The proposal includes a paragraph outlining how Namibia will be protected and deals with questions about the efficiency of projects after completion. “Obviously, the offer has been on the table for five months now so the government either does not seem to be able to read the offer, does not understand the offer or simply does not want to improve the living conditions of all Namibians. By taking advantage of the offer [the] existing budget could be used for other important government projects,” said Adam. JEMIMA BEUKES

Govt turns down huge 'donation'

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-18

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Govt turns down huge 'donation'

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-18

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