Activity 3: Unlock the economic potential of the Agricultural sector.

HPPII will promote and facilitate the infusion of private strategic investments into the agricultural sector, through a thorough review of the possibility of applying the PPP approach to all green schemes in the various regions of the country. The overall goal will be to improve output from said green schemes and attract private sector expertise and capital. This activity will contribute to the National goals of bolstering food security and self-sufficiency, while at the same time facilitating job creation and the strategic deployment of the limited assets at the Government’s disposal. These schemes hold the potential to unlock the production of high-value crops, contribute to the export market demands while creating thousands of jobs. The inclusion of the schemes into the priority list of PPPs to be developed by the PPP Unit shall be finalised in fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year.

Activity 6: Leverage Housing as a key catalyst to engender economic activity.

During the 2020 Cabinet Retreat, housing was identified as one of 3 priority sectors alongside Agriculture and Education as strategic enablers through which Namibia’s economic emancipation must be pursued. The latest data form the Namibian Statistics Agency indicates that Namibia has 113 informal settlements with 230,000 shacks and a population of 401,748 inhabitants. To cement the Government’s commitment to reducing inequality and providing decent shelter, the economic advancement pillar under HPPII will pursue activities that will accelerate the delivery of ultra-low-cost housing in various regions of the country as a means to catalyse economic activity and simultaneously boost the construction sector.

To achieve an optimal return on investment, Government will promote the institutionalization of early value engineering at feasibility, concept or design stage, for the implementation of all capital projects conducted under HPPII, starting with housing delivery. Value engineering can be defined as a formalized and organised approach to providing the necessary functions in a project at the lowest cost. This approach to design and construction promotes the early substitution of materials and methods with more cost-effective alternatives, without sacrificing functionality and quality.

Currently, this philosophy has been briefly mooted in Vision 2030 and NDP5, where alternative construction methods and models have been encouraged, and the FIDIC suite of contracts which outlines mechanisms for the contractor to submit value engineering proposals during the construction stage. Finally, the Resolution 24 of the 2nd Land Conference held in 2018 motivated for “Relevant Government Agencies to develop standards for local and alternative building materials and redraft standards for building low-cost houses”, and to “Investigate how to incorporate housing development and construction into the local value chains to support economic development.” Given the scarcity of land and the limitation of affordable housing in Namibia, an innovative and novel approach to designing and delivering housing, and indeed any other capital projects, is warranted. Which is why this activity will promote the infusion of the value engineering ethos into the accelerated provision of housing as a critical element to support sustainable stimulative economic activity.

In addition, Government will collaborate with all stakeholders to source funding for land acquisition with a central focus on effective and affordable Housing delivery throughout the HPPII period. In conclusion, given the limited fiscal space and unrelenting socio-economic pressures from COVID-19, attracting sustainable private sector investment into the economy becomes a critical undertaking. The Government is committed to fostering synergetic partnerships with members of the private sector who share the passion and dedication for inclusive growth in Namibia. Today more than ever, we have to stress the need for advancing our economic development in a manner where no one is left out, no matter the race, gender or creed.

Activity 5: Lower Namibia’s cost of capital by executing the integrated national financing framework roadmap

To develop engines of growth in a sustainable manner, bearing in mind its fiscal fragility, Namibia will have to access a diverse portfolio of funding that is best suited to each opportunity. The Development Finance Assessment report approved by cabinet and launched in 2020 advocated for a roadmap towards implementing an integrated national financing framework (INFF). The objective of the INFF is to provide a holistic approach for strengthening financing policies and institutions and matching the source and type of finance to the appropriate investment opportunity at hand using a blended financing approach. Under this activity, HPPII will also champion the development of the central securities depository, green and blue bonds, transition bonds, carbon credits and other innovative tools to fund the matching opportunities in Namibia. This activity is evergreen and will be championed by the Ministry of Finance throughout the HPPII period.

Activity 4: Establish holistic National MSME Fund towards a coordinated enterprise development value chain.

HPPI saw the development of an SME Financing Strategy consisting of a Credit Guarantee Scheme, a Mentoring and Coaching Programme, Skills Lending Facility and a Public Venture Capital Fund. HPPII will partner with the private sector to offer an MSME Fund with all four (4) components consolidated with a diversified source of funding. Government has engaged relevant partners with a track record of sourcing funding from the private financial sector as a viable means to meet the empowerment legislation provisions related to enterprise and supplier development for the financial sector. The implementation strategy will be championed by the Namibian Investment Promotion and Development Board and supported by the Development Bank of Namibia. Preliminary findings are expected by Second quarter of the 2021/22 financial year.

Activity 3: Design and offer competitive investment incentives to facilitate local and foreign direct investment attraction and retention.

The development of appropriate incentives that attract an array of investment capital which supports a robust and diverse growth trajectory is a critical component of a private sector-led economic growth programme. The Namibian Investment Promotion Act will be finalised by Fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year and will be accompanied by a new regime of Special Economic Zones which should attract global and regional investors alike. In addition to this a concerted effort from the Namibia Investment Promotion Development Board (NIPDB) in conjunction with the Ministry of Home Affairs will formulate a targeted Golden VISA programme looking to incentivise and attract investors with skills, discretionary capital and ambitions to set up businesses and residency in Namibia. This programme, once approved by Cabinet will be launched in Second quarter of the 2021/22 financial year. This activity has an underlying objective of raising more than N$50 billion in investments during the HPPII period.

Activity 2: Investigate the feasibility of Green Hydrogen and Ammonia as a transformative strategic industry

The development of complementary engines of growth through the accumulation of new productive capacities and know-how, in strategic sectors, is vital to ensure the growing complexity of Namibia’s economic structure. Moreover, the development of complementary engines is necessary to cushion the Namibian economy from unusual and external risk factors. A preliminary analysis by the World Bank of the green hydrogen market and levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) shows Namibia could produce highly competitive green ammonia . However, with little national demand, exports will be key to the green hydrogen strategy. The global ammonia market today is 180 million metric tonnes (Mt) driven by fertilizers and mining explosives production. The global market is expected to grow to over 500 Mt by 2050 driven by maritime shipping and power systems decarbonization, especially by major developed economies with netzero policies for 2050. In order to position the country to compete in a global market for green ammonia, the Government will lead the development of a sector that is designed to achieve a globally competitive price and sufficient infrastructure for maritime export. With its abundant, world-class renewable energy resources and increasing demand for green hydrogen worldwide, Namibia could be an early entrant in this new market. Countries such as Australia, Chile, Middle Eastern countries, Morocco, New Zealand and Norway are beginning to pursue Giga-Watt (GW) scale investments on the basis of national green hydrogen strategies.

In these early stages of market development, the Government will focus efforts on achieving largescale, low-cost renewable energy (RE) development and designing models for sustainably maximizing fiscal revenue and local development in RE investments and green ammonia production. The Government will put in place a competitive and transparent process, designed to maximize the national benefits and lay the foundation for long-term participation in a growing green hydrogen and ammonia market. Preliminary market estimates note that at scale the //Kharas Region stands to absorb potential FDI of US$6 billion, produce 2 million tonnes of Ammonia, generate in excess of $800 million in revenue p.a. and house generation assets of 5GW with the capability to produce power at less than 3 US cents/kWh. Such an investment would be transformative not only for the Southern Region of Namibia but for the country as a whole and while the probability of it coming to fruition still requires various feasibility studies to be conducted, the significance of the opportunity warrants a coordinated and focused effort to unlock.

Activity 1: Develop an implementation plan to attract private sector investment into the Green and Blue Economy.

IMG_0741Given its world class renewable resources and proximity to the ocean, Namibia is well placed to become a subSaharan powerhouse with dynamic green and blue economies. The potential for green electricity production in Namibia is many times the country’s domestic electricity consumption. The solar resource is one of the world’s best and wind resource is also excellent . Namibia aims to become the first Zero Emission country in Africa, playing a vital role in fighting climate change while at the same time harnessing concessionary funding, making the most of the multi generationally low cost of capital that is currently available in the global capital markets.

Namibia has a promising track record in sourcing climate change related funding and to date, Namibia has secured about US$437.3million from the Green Climate Fund of which US$40 million was secured through the Environmental Investment Fund and about US$390 million through international accredited entities namely the Deutsche Bank, French Development Agency and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. In addition, Namibia was the first sub-Saharan country to issue an awardwinning green bond in 2018 through Bank Windhoek, to the value of N$66 million in close collaboration with the International Financing Corporation. Having recently joined the 14-member High Level Panel on Ocean Sustainability in 2018, Namibia is also well positioned to design and champion a sustainable “blue economy” which will play a central role in alleviating the multiple demands on the Namibian land resources and tackling climate change. A portfolio of green and blue projects will be developed in conjunction with local and international financial institutions and development partners and will be launched as an HPPII initiative by the Fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year. The same cluster will also work closely with the nonbanking financial institutions and development partners to explore the possibility of creating project bonds, green, blue and transition bonds to fund the said projects throughout the HPPII period.

Activity 5: Develop a portfolio of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a mechanism for the delivery of public goods and services.

The PPP concept has been developed over the past 5 years, culminating in the promulgation of the Public Private Partnership Act in 2017, formation of the PPP Committee and Gazetting of the PPP Regulations in December 2018. PPPs aim to leverage private sector capital and expertise to maximize public good and value for money, while allocating the risk of developing and operating the asset to the party best suited to bear said risk. During HPPII concerted steps shall be taken to unlock the full potential of this legislative framework.

Activity 4: Review policies and legislation to unlock the economic potential of communal land.

The existing land ownership and tenure property systems in Communal Areas are not conducive to attracting the quantum and type of investments required to unlock the full economic potential of the communal areas that support a large part of our population. A Bank of Namibia Policy Proposal addressed to the Ministry of Land Reform, in January 2019 also included a comparative study of the Leasehold System in Botswana and contained various recommendations which will be reviewed under this activity. The objective is to augment the probability of financial institutions extending credit to parties looking to invest in communal areas and to accelerate concessions on wildlife and tourism in communal areas and in state protected areas. With the aim of attracting investors to Communal Areas in Namibia, this activity will review the above and harmonise the following five (5) pieces of legislation: the Land Bill, Deeds Registration Bill, Wildlife and Protected Areas Management Bill, Namibia Investment Promotion Act and the Namibia Tourism Bill in an effort to attract foreign and local investment into some of the most impoverished areas in Namibia. The proposed activity is expected to improve productivity of communal land as it relates to agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and other industries and will be completed by the third quarter of the 2021 financial year.

Activity 3: Unlock the economic potential of the Agricultural sector.

HPPII will promote and facilitate the infusion of private strategic investments into the agricultural sector, through a thorough review of the possibility of applying the PPP approach to all green schemes in the various regions of the country. The overall goal will be to improve output from said green schemes and attract private sector expertise and capital. This activity will contribute to the National goals of bolstering food security and self-sufficiency, while at the same time facilitating job creation and the strategic deployment of the limited assets at the Government’s disposal. These schemes hold the potential to unlock the production of high-value crops, contribute to the export market demands while creating thousands of jobs. The inclusion of the schemes into the priority list of PPPs to be developed by the PPP Unit shall be finalised in fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year.