Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi has commended Namibia on its efforts to provide landlocked countries with dry ports. He was speaking during a visit to the Namibia Ports Authority (Namport) in Walvis Bay yesterday. He was accompanied by President Hage Geingob, who said they were both on leave and saw fit to visit the port of Walvis Bay yesterday afternoon.
It was Masisi's first visit to the Botswana Dry Port as well as the container terminal on reclaimed land.
“It is an impressive move. We accepted an offer to establish a dry port facility in Walvis Bay and are utilising and optimising the port for this purpose. I am impressed by the developments happening here because it is not for the good of Namibia alone.”
The visiting president said his country made use of South Africa's Durban harbour in the past because there was no alternative.
“Since the dry port has been operational, the volumes are growing. With enough volume, we'll be able to tap into the new container terminal along with the fuel storage facility. For some time now we have been transporting fuel through Namibia. It is in our strategic interest to have options and grow these options. The opportunity exists even more now and we are calling on the private sector to build it and use it. It's a very logical move. There is no reason why there should be any differences created by so-called borders. Look at the San people. They're smarter than us by not recognising the border.”
Namport's N$4 billion container terminal is about 96.5% complete and is expected to be commissioned in August. The construction of the container terminal started in 2014.
About 20 Namibian engineers are on site every day to check that the terminal is built according to Namport's specifications by the contractor, CHEC.
SOURCE: Namibian Sun - LEANDREA LOUW
https://www.namibiansun.com/news/namport-impresses-masisi2019-04-24/
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