Maria David
THE construction of the Tsumeb Industrial park, known as Small Medium Enterprise (SME) Park, remains unfinished since 2014 due to termination of contracts and budget constraints.
Oshikoto Regional Councillor for Tsumeb, Gottlieb Ndjendjela during a visit by the Minister of Industrialization and Trade with the Oshikoto business community at Omuthiya expressed concern that the much-needed park is standing idle for too long amidst high demand by SME’s for such a facility.
Ndjendjela stated several letters asking why the construction of the Tsumeb SME Park continues to be delayed were sent to the ministry since the reign of his predecessor Tangeni Tobias, but no responses was provided.
“Young people want to utilize the facility for business purposes, but the delay continues to hamper plans of prospective business development taking place,” he said.
Trade minister, Lucia Iipumbu, in her responses, said that the delay of the completion of the Tsumeb Industrial park is mainly attributed to contractual and obligatory issues on the part of the construction company as well as a lack of funds due to budgetary and fiscal consolidation.
“The project is part of the three other industrial parks budgeted for in this financial year and is envisaged for completion,” she said.
Iipumbu noted that a total of N$16 million was budgeted for three projects of which N$6 million is earmarked for completion of the Tsumeb facility with timelines from May until October 2021.
