From another good source, there are two fairly wealthy people, one from the republic and the other from Dubai, a Sheik (some prince or other) that are in the process of presenting the Namibian government a proposal to develop/proclaim Oranjemund a Tax Haven....
This sounds far fetched, but the Sheik flew into Namibia about 4 weeks back, and is due to return in the next two weeks,
This is gonna be an interesting story.... I'll keep you updated......
Oh... the minister of Justice was in town this weekend, had the pleasure of sitting with her in the office at Spar today, discussed training of her workers in the North, She has a butchery and abattoir up there.... she also was one of the big ladies that actually fought with an AK47 in the bushwar.... nice lady to meet, good sense of humour....
just thought I'd share a part of my day.,.....
time to dump your good source michael
On a light note then: seems this minister is truly able to "justify" the current undoings of the wrong done things in the past by way of handeling things: Methods applicabe:
take up your AK47
load it
take aim
pull the trigger
Outcome:
bullets will come flying out
people will scatter and fall down (some dead, some wounded, some totally missed)
the wrongs will be right
and even if not -
you will have the attention of most about how you would like things done your way
Should that bit not read -
I am the Sheik Abdullah and thanks heaven, I have found a place like Oranjemund where I can make millions more .....\
Hoooooohraaahhhh
..... and the circus might come to town... I saw the papers concerning this tax haven adventure, there is a few highly qualified international people on them..... I cannot see it happening, but some do.....
Mike, do you know the name of the Sheikh who's shown interest in Oranjemund? I haven't heard anything about this, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. I hope for everyone's sake that it doesn't go ahead, coz that would be the end of Oranjemund for non UAE nationals. They will transform it into a paradise destination for the elite.
Check out the attached article. It says a lot about their priorities in life.
Patricia, I'll give you the SHeiks name later today... and yes, what you say is true... my Source said the exact thing... A tax Haven for the Super Rich, The Arabs also want to build a Yacht harbour along the coast..... this all sounds very far fetched, but I've seen some papers and know for a fact that a presentation is going to be made to parliament in the next few weeks......
The mentality here is that nothing is impossible. Anything's possible if you have the money and cheap labour. Go online and check out the different projects in Dubai, man-made islands such as The Palm, The World, and soon The Universe, indoor ski slope (that one I enjoy). The motto here is 'we do bigger, better and higher than anywhere esle'.
I saw the licence plate story on CNN..... what a waste of money... I also saw a lot on the discovery channel about the Palms project, I would'nt buy there....don't trust the man-made land on the water....
I agree with you. I wouldn't buy either. The main Palm Islands is just opposite my office window and yes, it looks great. But we all know that it will sink one day. Hope I'm very far away when that does happen!
@Patricia ... here is the name.... Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed al - Nahayan
Is he somebody?
Oooooooooh yes ... he is one of the many sons of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nayhan, the ex-president of the UAE who passed away about 2 years ago. He was a great and very humble man who did a lot for this country. The Al Nayhan family rules in Abu Dhabi, and only an Al Nayhan can be president of the UAE (the Maktoums rule in Dubai and get second place as Vice-President of the UAE). So it is an Abu Dhabi sheikh who's looking at ruling in Namibia then! Not that it makes any difference really.
Is he anything like his father, morals, humble man... I see he is a millitary background...I found a link:
http://www.adfd.ae/sheikh-mohammad-en.htm
Can't say really. The 'younger' generation doesn't have the same values as their elders.
Kinda like Georgswa and Georg Jnr.....? :emot19:
Carefull Mikey! you're even younger than me.... thumper
I believe that this Sheik Crown person will be in Windhoek this weekend, my source is leaving tomorrow to join the meeting!
giverose
Hope your 'source' will paint a very bleak picture of Oranjemund so that the Sheikh changes his mind and looks elsewhere to establish his new kingdom. Would hate it if they got their hands on the place.
Well news update, my source has just said that the meeting has been moved to the beginning of March.... The thing is money, nobody else seems prepared to come and invest "big" in Namibia..... are these guys the bottom of the barrel?
$$$$$$...
Dubai .. I see some opinions .. mine plain and simple . One Huge Vulgar display of wealth and ability to do it with the wealth .. power guzzling , resource guzzling , Bigger .. But Better ?? No ! all artificial ... you want snow and ski .. you go to where snow and ski is .. you want tropical island . then you go to tropical island ... I say no more ... what when the resource runs out .. Then ??
That's my opinion too, Sandy. What happens when they run out of resources. I don't think they'll be able to their standard with tourism. And I don't think they'll be capable of keeping the rich people in town the way it's done in Monaco.
Monaco is only good for rich people to take the money they "made" in their home country and "invest" there. That's cheating in many ways. Loss of tax in there home country, not reinvesting where they "earned" it ect...
I agree that once the resources have run out, things will be very different. But Dubai has never had as much resources as, for example, Abu Dhabi (that's where the oil is), so it has concentrated on tourism and foreign investment, attracting major companies to its free zones, exempt from taxes. Although I live here, I'm not blinded by the artificial side of things. Nonetheless, I do think that they will be able to maintain high standards of living (I'm speaking for the rich, of course). There will always be poor countries to send cheap labour to do the dirty work here and serve the rich!