WINDHOEK, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese companies have actively participated in infrastructure and industrial development of many African nations, including Namibia, which aspires to be a logistic hub in the southern African region.
The following are some major Chinese-built projects in the country known for creating job opportunities and making economic contributions.
GATEWAY PORT
Thanks to the increasing economic activities in the the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, a significant growth in freight traffic and a rising demand for port capacity have necessitated the expansion of Namibia's Port of Walvis Bay.
A container terminal and oil storage facilities are being added to the port, so as to consolidate its status as a marine gateway of the SADC region.
The expansion project, undertaken by China Harbor Engineering Company since 2014, will more than double the container terminal's throughput capacity from 350,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year to 750,000 TEUs.
The expansion project, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year, will also increase oil storage and add transportation facilities to the port.
One key component of the container terminal is the four imposing ship-to-shore container cranes (STS), which are 79 meters high. Prior to their introduction in February, the port had used mobile cranes to load and offload containers from vessels.
ROAD NETWORK
Namibia relies on roads for over 90 percent of its goods transportation and has been upgrading its road network. In recent years, Chinese firms have engaged in a number of road upgrading and construction projects.
Among them is the Okamatapati-Grootfontein Road, which was upgraded to bitumen standards by China Henan International Cooperation Group Co., Ltd..
Namibian President Hage Geingob in April officially reopened the road, which forms part of Route 301 of the SADC Regional Trunk Road Network and is therefore of national and regional significance.
Other prominent road projects featuring Chinese firms' participation include the upgrading of the road linking Windhoek and the Hosea Kutako International Airport, and the upgrading of the Rundu-Elundu Road. <
URANIUM MINE
The Husab Uranium Mine is known as one of China's biggest single investments in Africa. Its construction and operation have been credited for alleviating the employment pressure in the southern African nation, where the unemployment rate reached 34 percent in 2016.
As one of the biggest uranium mines in the world, the Husab mine had 1,620 permanent employees by the end of 2017, in addition to 176 temporary employees and 522 contractors.@ China General Nuclear Power Company and other Chinese partners have a 90-percent share in the mine and the Namibian government-owned Epangelo Mining has 10 percent.
The mine produced its first uranium drum in December 2016. If its full production is realized, the mine will process 15 million tons of ore, and has an output capacity of 6,500 tons of U3O8 a year.
It is expected to promote Namibia's GDP growth by about 5 percent and increase the country's export volume by about 20 percent, in a bid to make Namibia the third largest uranium producer in the world.
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