President Hage Geingob has said that the Namibian Government has taken note of the public calls for a greater participation in the ownership of newly discovered green hydrogen and oil ventures and work is underway to amend Namibian laws to allow for a certain percentage of mandatory government ownership in all mineral licences.
Geingob was addressing delegates at the 10th chamber of mines mining expo and conference happening in Windhoek today and tomorrow.
He went on to say that the Green hydrogen projects promise to revitalize the long-held ambitions of Namibia’s local mineral beneficiation and value addition agenda as the country stands to secure the much-needed energy for sustainable economic and social development. Namibia aims to position itself to offer clean, affordable energy to the world economy through the production of Green Hydrogen.
“Similarly, the discovery of large oil reserves in the Orange basin and development of the gas sector as transitional energy forms are set to drastically change the Namibian economic landscape as well as the socio-economic conditions of Namibian citizens. However, we need to work faster on the implementation modalities to accelerate the realisation of these opportunities.
“This will ensure that our citizens, most notably our youth, can have their hopes for jobs and personal actualisation realised during their lifetime. In this regard, I call on and encourage the responsible Government Ministries and Departments, the mining industry, private sector, Development Banks, and partners to get the processes rolling as soon as possible and as fast as possible,” he added.