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Namibia: Waterfront Project in Phase Two
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New Era (Windhoek)
25 April 2008
Posted to the web 25 April 2008
Desie Heita
Windhoek
Phase two of the Lüderitz waterfront has commenced and is expected to be open in time for World Cup 2010 soccer showcase in South Africa. The more than N$200 million worth development will feature a shopping mall, a state-of-the-art hotel with a hotel school, and penthouses.
Major retailer Pick 'n Pay has already indicated its intention to be the anchor tenant for the shopping mall. The Pick 'n Pay shop will have an underground car park.
The Lüderitz Waterfront Development Company is already planning a major roadshow promotional campaign to pull visitors to the World Cup 2010. The roadshow will start in the middle of 2009.
Fluksman Samuehls, the Chief Executive Officer of the Lüderitz Waterfront Development Company, said the second phase of the waterfront would complement the current waterfront development, which was built with the purpose of "linking the town towards the sea".
"Lüderitz Waterfront Development Company was created to realise the potential of Lüderitz as a business, recreation, tourism and social focus destination," said Samuehls.
The waterfront company is 100 percent owned by the Government under the Ministry of Finance.
Samuehls said the second phase is a commercial undertaking with the aim to "give business meaning to the existing waterfront facility".
The first phase opened in 2002 and was built at a cost of N$40 million. In response to critics who say the waterfront business failed to succeed commercially, Samuehls said, "The purpose was to try and link the town to the sea. Lüderitz never had any commercial and recreational development near the sea with public access. Thus, really, the first phase was not meant to be commercial."
The current waterfront development houses a small and medium enterprises (SMEs) business park, flats, offices, a jetty and a tidal pool. It also has an open square area, which Samuehls says, "was designed to help bring people of Lüderitz together".
The Lüderitz Waterfront Development Company declared its first profit and handed over dividends worth N$476773 to the Government last month.
Because of its topographical nature, with lots of rocks, Lüderitz had no accessible beach unlike the coastal towns of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund.
"The only beach, Agate Beach, is 10 kilometres from town," said Samuehls.
He added that the Agate Beach has potential for development similar to that of Langstrand Beach in Walvis Bay where luxurious property development mushroomed over the last two years.
As for the second phase of the waterfront development, Samuehls said it will fill the gap that the company has identified in the last eight years.
"The design, the flow of people and the space, all will be addressed by the second phase," he said.
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Samuehls was appointed chief executive officer in February and says his task is to "transform the whole business that it defines its role as a successful run state-owned business."
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