The Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Calle Schlettwein, said the ministry has received offers to manage the Vhungu-Vhungu green scheme in the Kavango East Region, which are currently being evaluated.

Schlettwein said this during a meeting on the planned revitalisation of the green schemes with the regional leadership of the two Kavango regions on Monday.

In March this year, Government announced it would put 11 green scheme irrigation farms in Namibia on the market between May and July this year through a request for proposals.

“Vhungu-Vhungu is the first green scheme we put on the market. It is a green scheme linked to a dairy producing plant,” he said.

The minister explained that the green scheme was a normal running project and that Government introduced the dairy producing plant in mid-2015.

However because of financial problems Government experienced, the dairy producing plant was never completed and needed a further investment of about N.dollars 65 million to complete that project.

“Currently the government does not have this kind of money either,” he said.

The minister further explained that what the ministry has put in the request for proposals is that the interested party should finish the dairy project and invest in the remaining components that are needed to run the dairy, however the green scheme will be outsourced as well.

“We have received offers. The offers are evaluated as local offers and one foreign offer,” Schlettwein stated.

He said the ministry will consult with the regional leadership to make sure localisation is truly effected.

The rest of the green schemes will follow in batches to avoid double-dipping.

Meanwhile at the meeting, the leadership of the two regions handed over a submission to the minister in a quest to be involved in the operations of the local green schemes.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency