Now that the papers reported yesterday that the KUDU Gas power Station, has been earmarked for construction up at Walvis, even though the Gas is at Oranjemund, even though we have tons of empty mine accommodation, even though we are right on the border with the potential South African market, we can wave adieu to the sustainability of Oranjemund...
Besides my above ranting, here is my gripe..... I want to blame somebody, I want blame somebody that we lost this huge life sustaining project.... My first culprit would be NAMDEB, why? Well I remember, back in the day, when I spotted a group of foreigners in the SPAR, they were an advance scout party, that were sent here by one of the big investors in KUDU, I befriended them and was horrified to find out, that the NAMDEB Management team of the day, had done nothing, whatsoever to facilitate these guys, no car, no guide, no tour, nothing, in fact they had to hike in from the airport, needless to say, I gave them an unofficial tour..... One cannot help but wonder, that if NAMDEB had not been so selfish and obsessed with diamond mining and where indeed serious about the sustainability of ORANJEMUND, they could have put their spin on the whole project , even offering a helping hand..... But no, the custodians of the town, did nothing..... Pathetic...
Next to blame, the local politicians..... Always on about Oranjemund being their Home, Bulldust! Home is not Oranjemund for you guys, home is in Windhoek or the North.... you guys are not serious about the sustainability of the town, you guys would rather spend your time running around trying to attract "little" meaningless business's to the town, where you can have a finger in the percentage pie..... those business's are not going to sustain the town, and when it all folds, you guys will just run back "home", whilst we , The Oranjemunders sit in the desert winds..... You politicians and party leaders, should have been lobbying Gov and The kudu people from day one , day one, day one..... on why Oranjemund should have been the correct place to build KUDU...... perhaps KUDU was too big for you guys to get your paws into , perhaps that pie had been divided already, so you were not interested.....
And before you ask what I did, Twice I have contacted TULLOw to explain why Oranjemund would make the right location.... I tried on numerous occasions to contact GAZPROM, but those Russians were not coming SOuth, although I do remember an article where GAZPROM had the sense at one stage to state that they wanted Oranjemund , as it was closer to the SOuth African Market,
Anglo should look into this, cheaper power to run their interests...
That's just my two cent's worth in my democracy....
Hear ,Hear daman and i support you 100% Mike them politicians have some faceinfood in their face ,shame on them image14
bravo
Straight talk has never broken any friendship
grab(1)
So, I wrote this letter to Gazprom this morning, 3rd one, they never reply.... perhaps if a journalist phoned them one day we might get an answer...
"Please reconsider the construction of the KUDU Gas Power station in Namibia. It should be built near the source at ORANJEMUND and not further north at Walvis Bay. It makes economical sense to use Oranjemund for the following reasons.
1) Near the Source
2) Closest location to the South African Market, which is crying out for energy.
3) Infrastructure, Oranjemund has infrastructure, built by DeBeers for diamond mining. They are currently downscaling their land based operations and the town of Oranjemund has more than 200 Vacant family accomodation units available. Oranjemund has a modern infrastructure.The Namibian Governement indirectly owns half of Oranjemund.
4) Plenty of cheap available land, I reckon the Namibian Goverment will give the land.
5) Permanent fresh water source with the mighty Orange River at Oranjemund.
I therefore humbly urge you to reconsider the location for the Power Station.
Tullow oil, told me that there would be a problem to pipe the GAS onshore, however, are you aware, that DeBeers already built an undersea pipelins in the 70's to an offshore platform to bring Fuel ashore from ship. So it can be done...
Your Sincerely
Mike Alexander
(www.oranjemundonline.com )"
Afterwards , myself and Arthur debated the topic further, I then realized I should have made the following additional points...
1) Rosh Pinah , is 90 km away, the new mine there, currently consumes 25% of Namibia's electricity..... There is a large new substation, just north of the town, with the overhead lines bringing power down from the North.
2) Oranjemund , imports it's power in over the Orange River, there are huge overhead Power Pylons that Span the Orange river just west of Beauvallon.
What's your point Mike?
Well, if Kudu was built at Oranjemund, the powers that be, would only have to build a 90km Overhead line to the Rosh Pinah Sub. You would then reverse the direction of the power coming in from the North to Rosh Pibah and do the same at Oranjemund, then you could export your power to South Africa and send your power to the Rosh Pinah mine and further North to the rest of the country on infrastructure that is a;ready in place....
I wonder if any of the Power Guru's realize this?
Anyone want to share the power?
I have seen a drawing some time back showing the lines they would build if I recall it was a total of six 3 to Rosh Pina and onto Kookerboom sub outside Keetmanshoop I think another line to Alexanderbay and to Luderitz must try and find that drawing
Maybe they will use a ship to transport the gas......is being done in some countries...
I was gobsmacked* at what Mike Alexander related about Namdeb's shocking lack of common decency toward potential investors.
Mike you need to be commended for recognising the frightful faux pas** Namdeb committed. By kindly taking the party under your wing I hope you were able to offset a miniscule part of Namdeb's complete lack of awareness at how to treat visitors who especially have the potential to invest in the future of Oranjemund.
*Adj. 1. gobsmacked - utterly astounded
colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
surprised - taken unawares or suddenly and feeling wonder or astonishment; "surprised by her student's ingenuity"; "surprised that he remembered my name"; "a surprised expression"
**A faux pas (play /ˌfoʊˈpɑː/ plural: faux pas /ˌfoʊˈpɑːz/) is a violation of accepted social norms (for example, standard customs or etiquette rules).
Mike,
I have read so many of the comments on this forum over the last couple of years which seek to place the blame for everything on Namdeb's management - I have never made any comment, as there are different forums to deal with this, and I really don't consider it effective to engage in lengthy on-line debates. I would be happy to engage in a personal or group discussion where decisions and situations can be put into context.
Please remember that a lot of the current management team (GMT) has been Oranjemunders for a lot of their working lives, and that we are committed to Namdeb and our community. I have been here for 17 years, and both my kids were born here - everything that happens in town also has a direct impact on me and my family. The same goes for others like Wolfi Teichert, who is now responsible for town - for years he has been tirelessly working as chairman as the school PTA, the Sandsharks swimming club and now the school SCM. He has done an incredible amount of work in his personal capacity to improve things for our kids; yet on this forum one can only see all the critisim on how poorly the affairs of the town is run.
The reality is that we want to see the town succeed as much as you do - often, decisions such as the move of Kudu gas to Walvis is completely unrelated to Namdeb.
Regards,
Riaan
Hi Riaan, Thanks for your comment, it's alway reassuring to know that somebody who can make a difference reads our comments.
I think it is fair to state, that not all comments on Oranjemundonline have portrayed the company in a negative light, in
fact there have been a number of accolades for the company on doing a lot of positive things for the community of Oranjemund,
ie. The High School , The purchasing of new tree's for the town, the purchasing of additional Xmas Lights , the reduction of
private business rentals during the recession, the allowing of the town pool and library to stay open when it seemed it would
be closing. Currently one can see that the roads are being resurfaced, buildings being painted and fences around the town are
being repaired.
I fully understand, that the mine's number one priority would be to sustain the profitabilty of their operations and thereby
indirectly help sustain the town itself. It is also understandable that we have just come through a major recession and
things are never going to be what they were.
In my opinion, the reality is that the mine is still the custodian of the town, I have lived here for 40 years and it really
hurt me when I saw those advance trucks pulling out of our town three years ago, not just from a business perspective, but
that my town was losing it's people. It pains me even further to see our parks and lawns losing their once well manicured
looks. We hear that pumps and waterpipelines keep breaking and this is understandable due to the age of the
infrastructure.But as residents of this town, surely we should be allowed to comment on the issues of the town? The town is
an integral part of NAMDEB's operations, professionals are not going to be willing to relocate to our town if it loses it's
sparkle.
As for Kudu Gas, I agree it has absolutely nothing to do with NAMDEB, but I do feel that it would not have cost the GMT of 8
years ago anything to have helped those blokes from the energy company . There was a time when the communications department
of the mine would have jumped at any chance to "market" their town and mine. Just good publicity that cost's nothing.
For what it's worth, I do beleive that out town's situation will improve, I just think that a number of the residents are not
believing anything about this and are starting to lose faith......
In closing , I guess we shall be having a number of in depth conversations next to the poolside in Kimberley..... swink
When properties come available to buy we will see who's committed to this town... I know very few of my friend from up north will buy because home is where the heart is.
One of the prerequisites for getting a job with the new municipality should be.... If you or your spouse don't own property in the town you don't qualify..
16_1_231
In a Local paper today, BLOOMBERG is quoted as
"The proposals for the project include an 800 megawatt gas- fired power station at Oranjemund to be managed by state-run NamPower. "
LINK: http://www.namibian.com.na/news/marketplace/full-story/archive/2011/november/article/russians-want-38-of-kudu-gas/
A highly placed source within in the energy sector , once again reiterated to a good friend of mine yesterday, that the Power Station will be built at Uubvley, Oranjemund. A public statement will be made once all the final details have been signed....