The Keetmanshoop Vocational Training Centre ( VTC ) is expected to be completed in November this year . The construction of the VTC at the southern town was funded through a N . dollars 103 million loan from the African Development Bank . The chairperson of the VTC operationalisation committee , Amon Haufiku of the Namibia Training Authority ( NTA ), during a stakeholder engagement with the || Kharas regional leadership here on Thursday said the training centre will be inaugurated in the third week of November . NTA hopes to have the campus operational by January next year . ‘ The construction of this project was hampered by COVID – 19 and also performance issues with the contractor . The building is however practically completed . The contractor is now busy with the snag list and connection of water and electricity ,’ he added . The courses proposed by the NTA for the centre in the short term are industrial mechatronics , water technology and firefighting and occupational health and safety . The medium to lo
ng term proposed courses are agriculture , aircraft maintenance , plumbing and pipeline , facility maintenance and heavy plants operation and dangerous goods drivers . ‘ These courses are what we propose . They are not cast in stone , we are to get input from the region before we go ahead and introduce these courses ,’ said Haufiku . NTA corporate communications and stakeholders ‘ engagement manager , Mornay Louw , said the courses offered at the Keetmanshoop VTC or any other VTCs should align with Namibia ‘ s developmental agenda and should produce skills that can be employed in the emerging energy sectors . ‘ We also do not want to train somebody for three years and once that person graduates there are no opportunities . We want to improve our chances so that when somebody graduates , they can find employment or become self – employed . We also want to address skill gaps in critical sectors essential for economic growth , and we can all agree that the energy sector is critical right now ,’ Louw said . The n
ew centre amongst others has four workshops , an administration block , a classroom block consisting of two classrooms , and ablution facilities and student accommodation .
Source: The Namibia News Agency
