Newly appointed Acting Public Enterprises minister, Ipumbi Shiimi has also come out in support of TransNamib, dismissing the possibility of the railway company being liquidated.
Shiimi’s pronouncement comes after former Public Enterprises minister Leon Jooste had vowed last month to fight any attempts to liquidate TransNamib after the national rail operator was slapped with a 15-day ultimatum to make payment of N$161 million to Challenge Air or face the prospects of liquidation.
“I would like to emphasize that there is no truth in the allegations as portrayed in the media that TransNamib is to be liquidated. The State maintains the view that TransNamib is a strategic entity in the country’s logistics hub aspirations and will do everything in its powers to strengthen TransNamib to ensure that it delivers on its mandate in a cost-effective manner,” Shiimi said.
“Government as the 100% shareholder of TransNamib, has always believed in supporting the mandate of TransNamib, in line with the logistics hub aspirations of the country. Government deems TransNamib to be the appropriate vehicle for Namibia to serve as the logistics hub connecting the broader SADC region.”
The announcement by Shiimi comes as TransNamib revealed that it was consulting its legal representatives on the appropriate action to defend a letter of demand issued by Lawyer, Sisa Namandje, on-behalf of Challenge Air, maintaining that it is not a party to the settlement agreement entered into between Air Namibia and Challenge Air in 2019.
Challenge Air, in its payment demand, is trying to recoup the N$161 million it was owed by Air Namibia before it was liquidated.
The Air Namibia’s debt is reported to have been accrued by the now defunct national carrier from the lease of a Boeing 767 in 1998.
Air Namibia, which went into voluntary liquidation in March of last year, owes creditors N$3.5 billion in total, with N$2.3 billion owed to trade creditors and N$693 million being unpaid taxes.
TransNamib in March secured a N$2.6 billion joint loan from the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) and Development Bank of Namibia (DBN).
The loan which has its origins from a 2019 pledge by the two banks to avail N$8 billion towards infrastructure development in Namibia, will be used for the remanufacturing of rolling stock, acquisition of new rolling stock, modernisation of the TransNamib workshop and upgrading of signalling equipment, including spares and associated equipment.
