13-02-09 NamPower signed a loan agreement worth N$ 1,3 bn with three foreign investment institutions and the Development Bank of Namibia for the completion of the 951-km Caprivi power line from Katima Mulilo to central Namibia.
The loan secures about one third of the N$ 3,3 bn required for the project, of which Phase 1 will be completed by the end of the year. The next phase will see the construction of a 280-km power line from the Gerus substation near Otjiwarongo to the Auas substation outside Windhoek.

The Namibian Government provided N$ 1 bn while the remaining funds come from NamPower's own reserves and a bond scheme.
"The Caprivi Interconnector is vital to ease the power crisis in the southern African region and it will diversify the country's electricity imports," said Paulinus Shilamba, Managing Director of NamPower. "It will also allow electricity trading between Namibia and neighbouring countries by getting linked with electricity lines in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia."

"NamPower will have to invest another N$ 1 bn to upgrade infrastructure in the Erongo Region, since the current electricity demand of 480 MW will double by 2012 due to increased (uranium) mining activities by then," Shilamba added.
The new desalination plant planned by NamWater will also consume a lot of electricity. The European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency and Germany's Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) contributed jointly just over N$ 1,3 bn while the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) provided N$ 60 mm.