The German Development Bank (KfW) through the Namibian Government has signed loan agreements with the City of Windhoek and Namwater to finance some of the country’s priority water projects.
This follows the N$10-billion loan agreement the Bank has signed with the government and the water utility to kick start water restoration in the country in December last year.
Namwater received an initial loan amount of N$1 billion, which has already been signed and is being implemented, and an additional N$1.5 billion to, among other things, address water losses which are still under review.
“So it can be a variety of things. There are pipelines in the north, rehabilitation of some parts of the canal. It is pipelines on the coast as well, where you have water losses that urgently need to be replaced as well. So, it’s looking into all the urgent issues mentioned,” Sector Coordinator at KfW Development Bank Marie-Louise Wimo said.
As part of the City of Windhoek’s loan, an amount of N$301 million will be spent on the restoration of the Gammams and Otjomuise wastewater treatment plants in Windhoek.
“So, KfW is also financing the rehabilitation of the Gammams and the Otjomuise, the wastewater treatment plant that’s €15 million [N$301 million]. So that they can have the right quality water to feed into the second DPR [Direct Potable Reformation] plant,” said Wimo.
Wimo further explained that about 50% of the water Windhoek residents consume could come from reused water. She, however, said it is important for water reformation that the wastewater treatment plants already have the water clean to an extent so that it can feed into the direct potable reuse plant.
“But they need a certain quality of water already and the Gamma’s wastewater treatment plant is already at full capacity and also very old in terms of the infrastructure,” she said
Namibia is experiencing an acute water crisis due to years of drought, while the country’s water infrastructure is old, vandalised, and in some areas, there is no potable water, leaving residents to consume from traditional open wells or swamps.
KfW Development Bank is a German bank that offers promotional loans to beneficiaries in developing and emerging economies at close-to-market rates to fund and secure projects that are economically viable and have effective development objectives.
