Namibia and China on Thursday signed a Economic and Technical Cooperation Grant Agreement worth nearly N$1 billion.
The agreement, was initially set to be signed in August, will benefit various government projects.
Although some projects are yet to be identified, The Brief is reliably informed that Namibian government officials will meet next week to start the process of identifying projects that will benefit from the Chinese funding.
According to Chinese government figures, the Asian country has completed nearly 20 grant projects in Namibia since 2015 worth over N$3 billion.
“I look forward to working with the Namibian government to formulate and implement projects, make good use of this grant for the benefit of the Namibian people and for the further consolidation of our friendship,” Chinese Ambassador to Namibia, Zhang Yiming said.
“Although a developing country itself, China has been doing its best to provide various forms of assistance and support in multiple fields to Namibia.”
The signing of the latest agreement comes after the Namibian government in 2020 was granted about N$400 million in grant aid to finance the construction of a dual carriageway to Hosea Kutako International (HKI) Airport.
The project is currently on-going and being built in two phases, the first one being the construction of an 8.4-kilometre dual carriageway between Windhoek’s Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue and the extension of Sam Nujoma Drive to the southeast of the city, with 10 new bridges and three interchanges to be built.
Phase two will start from the Sam Nujoma Drive interchange to Hosea Kutako International Airport, covering more than 30 kilometres.
“The project of constructing Hosea Kutako International Airport expressway currently being implemented is a key project aimed to reinvigorate post-epidemic tourism and to revitalize the national economy by improving transportation infrastructure and enhancing the function of the airport hub,” Yiming said.
