2 October 2008
Windhoek — Tjihero Meat City, a United Kingdom-based entity, says it has signed a two-billion-dollar (US$300 million) investment deal with a group of UK private investors for the construction of the largest abattoir in the world.
Registered in both Namibia and the United Kingdom, Tjihero Meat City (TMC) is headed by Leon Tjihero, a Namibian national based in the UK and Mackenzie Lunga.
"A private investor group represented by a UK-based finance house has signed a letter of engagement with the Namibian firm, after months of intense and discrete negotiations on the funding and management of this major project," said the two co-founders of TMC.
TMC, which first announced the idea early this year, said it identified the need to tap into the vast wealth of quality livestock from the Namibian farming community.
"Namibian premium meat products would be marketed and sold to international markets, namely European and middle eastern (sic) where there is a high demand for grass-fed, organically produced meat, where it attracts equally lucrative returns to the producers (sic)," said Tjihero.
They had earlier said the abattoir would be constructed in Windhoek, as it is central and accessible by other regions.
"Senior officials from the Government, traditional leaders and local, commercial and non-commercial farmers pledged support for the project during our feasibility studies. They have said that the wholesale export of livestock into neighbouring South Africa is a major issue, in that Namibian produce is perceived internationally as South African produce," said Tjihero.
This, says Tjihero, "highlights the urgent need for the establishment of a Namibian-based abattoir coupled with an adequate export infrastructure that directly benefits the Namibian economy, while placing the country on the world map as a major producer of quality meat products."
The co-founders of TMC said construction of the abattoir would start next year in Windhoek's Prosperita Industrial Area. Construction would end in November 2010.
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