SMEs want a fair share of AfDB-funded projects
The Namibia Local Business Association (Naloba) has raised concerns that African Development Bank (AfDB)-funded government projects are sidelining local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in favour of foreign companies.
Speaking before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economy, Industry, Public Administration and Planning, Naloba’s vice-president, Peter Amadhila, criticised the reliance on foreign consultants and contractors, arguing that local SMEs are fully capable of executing these projects, which often involve questionable “briefcase companies” that drain national resources.
The committee is currently in Swakopmund in the Erongo Region for consultations.
“One of the biggest challenges we are facing now is that most of the funding is procured through the AfDB or the World Bank. We have foreign consultants who come here and then partner with other foreigners,” Amadhila said.
According to him, in some cases, these foreign entities are briefcase companies posing as legitimate businesses.
“The consultant is from Zimbabwe, he comes and undertakes a project, they take a Chinese partner and a briefcase company. These projects are milking our country, and some of them could easily be carried out by Namibians,” he said.
The nature of the projects also does not require the services of international contractors if they were divided among local SMEs, Amadhila argued.
“Imagine a pipeline from Ogongo to Oshakati, a 50 km pipeline for NamWater. Why not say, for example, one Namibian SME takes five kilometres, another takes the next five kilometres, and so on? You could create work for ten companies just to connect the pipes,” Amadhila said.
“But all these Chinese are partnering with companies. If you go and look at who the owners are, where their people are, where their machinery is – zero.”
Speaking before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economy, Industry, Public Administration and Planning, Naloba’s vice-president, Peter Amadhila, criticised the reliance on foreign consultants and contractors, arguing that local SMEs are fully capable of executing these projects, which often involve questionable “briefcase companies” that drain national resources.
The committee is currently in Swakopmund in the Erongo Region for consultations.
“One of the biggest challenges we are facing now is that most of the funding is procured through the AfDB or the World Bank. We have foreign consultants who come here and then partner with other foreigners,” Amadhila said.
According to him, in some cases, these foreign entities are briefcase companies posing as legitimate businesses.
“The consultant is from Zimbabwe, he comes and undertakes a project, they take a Chinese partner and a briefcase company. These projects are milking our country, and some of them could easily be carried out by Namibians,” he said.
The nature of the projects also does not require the services of international contractors if they were divided among local SMEs, Amadhila argued.
“Imagine a pipeline from Ogongo to Oshakati, a 50 km pipeline for NamWater. Why not say, for example, one Namibian SME takes five kilometres, another takes the next five kilometres, and so on? You could create work for ten companies just to connect the pipes,” Amadhila said.
“But all these Chinese are partnering with companies. If you go and look at who the owners are, where their people are, where their machinery is – zero.”
