Page 8 - AfrOil Week 46 2021

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

The facility will be built in the Tsau/Khaeb national park (Photo: Wikimedia)

Once fully developed, the project will provide in their respective fields. “This collective deep
a major boost to Namibia in terms of foreign technical expertise across the entire green
direct investment (FDI) and job creation. The hydrogen value chain, combined with our
$9.4bn investment is of the same order of mag- financial strength and experience in developing,
nitude as the country’s current GDP. fundraising and implementing infrastructure
In addition to taxes, Hyphen will pay con- projects in Africa, will be crucial in success-
cession fees, royalties, a sovereign wealth fund fully delivering a project of this magnitude and
contribution and an environmental levy to the complexity,” he said. “This is exactly the type
government. of investment the board aims to attract, as it is
“The Tsau /Khaeb national park is among directly aligned to our mandate of unlocking
the top five locations in the world for low-cost investment opportunities that drive the econ-
hydrogen production, benefiting from a com- omy forward, and most importantly, improve
bination of co-located onshore wind and solar the quality of life for all Namibians.”
resources near the sea and land export routes to Nangula Nelulu Uaandja, the CEO of the
market,” said Raffinetti. Namibian Investment Promotion and Devel-
“Namibia’s world-class natural resources, opment Board (NIPDB), said the project was
combined with a progressive, pro-investment a milestone project that will enable the country
and visionary government under the leadership to create on average 15,000 direct jobs over the
of President Hage Geingob, has enabled the four years of combined construction and 3,000
country to move with incredible speed to posi- permanent direct jobs over the 40-year opera-
tion itself at the leading edge of Africa’s ambi- tional period, while contributing to other efforts
tions to enter the green hydrogen production to stimulate economic recovery.
space,” he added. “We look forward to welcoming Hyphen as
Hyphen’s director, Dr Tobias Bischof-Niemz, an investor in Namibia and reiterate the board’s
said the consortium comprised shareholders commitment to creating a conducive environ-
and technical partners that were world leaders ment for investment,” she said. ™

POLICY
Another chapter in SAMIR’s curious case

MOROCCO ENVIRONMENTAL groups say petrochem- Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch in October,
icals giant Sasol’s climate transition plans are an industry body affiliated with the Democratic
simply not good enough and are still calling for Confederation of Labour (CDT) urged the min-
divestment in the company. ister to show the “courage” to intervene and save
Employees of Morocco’s lone refiner have Societe Anonyme Marocaine de l’Industrie du
reached out to the state to intervene in the liq- Raffinage (SAMIR).
uidation case, which was launched shortly after The company had operated the 200,000 bar-
the company was mothballed in 2015. rel per day (bpd) facility at Mohammedia until
In an open letter sent to the country’s new its closure.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 17•November•2021