Namibia's perks beat eastern Cape, writes Leonard Neill
A TIMBER PROCESSING plant is to be established in Walvis Bay's Export Processing Zone (EPZ) which will absorb the remaining 75 000 sq m of space available in the zone.
Two Pretoria companies, Yebo Investment Holdings and Afri-Logs, have combined with a Japanese consortium for the project which is valued at US$63m, making it the second largest development in the EPZ next to that of General Motors.
Contracts have been signed for logs to be imported from Gabon, the Cameroons and Liberia, while negotiations are being held with Angolan authorities for pine from that country. A total of 2 500 tons of wood are to be shipped in on a weekly basis, with a minimum of 150 tons per day required for completed veneer articles and a further 75 tons daily for the laminating plant.
We will export the finished furniture components to both Europe and the United States, where they will be built into completed items for sale, says Yebo managing director Marius Ludick.
It is planned that the plant will be fully operational by February 2002. Imports will commence in the latter part of 2001 in order to build up stocks in preparation for the production line kick off.
We are currently busy with ecological studies in Gabon which will continue until November, says Ludick. The fiscal planning of the plant will then commence with the help of our Japanese partners who have provided the finance necessary for the project.
Around 165 Namibians will be employed in the operation along with five skilled South African workers. Ten Namibians are being sent to Port Elizabeth Technikon from June this year for a three year course in timber processing, which will then enable them to occupy senior management positions in the company.
We had originally planned to establish a plant in the eastern Cape but the labour situation in Namibia is far more attractive, as well as the tax haven offered by the EPZ, says Ludick, who is to move his headquarters to Walvis Bay when the plant becomes operational.
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