Day: May 29, 2023

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Government hard at work to complete mass housing: Uutoni

Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, has said the government is hard at work to ensure the completion of the mass housing project, with 111 houses expected to be completed by July 2023.

In an interview with Nampa recently, Uutoni said the ministry appointed a contractor, New Era Investment, in November 2022 to complete the 505 houses in Swakopmund in the Erongo Region. Sixty-four of these houses have been completed and are ready for handing over, whilst 111 are expected to be completed in July 2023 and 319 in early 2024.

The mass housing project was the brainchild of former president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, to address Namibia’s housing crisis, with a promise to build 148 000 houses by 2030. So far, 4 130 houses have been handed over to beneficiaries, while 891 houses remained unoccupied due to incompletion, including 24 in Opuwo, 505 in Swakopmund and 362 in Windhoek.

“Government is hard at work to ensure that what has not been completed commences and is ratified. The instruction by the government is that the ministry should take up that responsibility. We are busy… and very soon the completed houses will be handed over to the beneficiaries,” Uutoni noted.

He added that the project’s abrupt stop in 2015 was due to legal disputes and underperformance by contractors.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

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APIA approves funding of five investment projects worth TND 14.9 million

The National Grants Committee of the Agency for the Promotion of Agricultural Investment (APIA), on Monday, approved five investment projects worth a total of TND 14.9 million.

These projects are spread over four governorates, namely Manouba, Mahdia, Sfax and Nabeul, according to APIA.

In terms of land loans, the committee approved six loans worth TND 1 million, covering an area of 42 hectares in the governorates of Kasserine and Sidi Bouzid.

The value of privately financed agricultural investments approved by APIA during the first three months of 2023 decreased by 20.9% compared to the same period last year, amounting to TND 123.6 million, according to APIA's statistical bulletin published on April 20.

Approved investments received a total of TND 34 million, which represents 27.5% of the approved investment volume, compared to TND 39.5 million the same period last year.

The approval rate fell from 18.9% to 16.4%. The Grants Committees approved only five land loans worth TND 0.8 million, compared to nine loans worth TND 1.2 million during the same period in 2002. These loans will facilitate the integration of 72 hectares of land into the economic cycle, as against 86 hectares by the end of March 2022.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

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Tunisia takes part in second ministerial retreat on AfCFTA in Nairobi

Tunisia is taking part in the work of the second ministerial retreat of the Council of Ministers on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) from May 29 to 31, 2023, in Nairobi, Kenya.

This meeting aims to draw up a detailed roadmap to complete the agenda of the AfCFTA Secretariat for the current negotiations and to identify the specific priorities for achieving the slogan: "Accelerating the implementation of the AfCFTA", chosen by the African Union for the year 2023.

Minister of Trade and Export Development, Kalthoum Ben Rejeb, and Director General of Tunisian Customs, Najet Jaouadi, are representing Tunisia at this meeting, says a press release issued on Monday by the Department of Trade.

The second ministerial retreat of the Council of Ministers is an opportunity for the trade ministers of the AfCFTA region to exchange views on several issues, including the blocked files linked to the negotiations on rules of origin.

These include the automotive components sectors, textiles and clothing, and certain issues relating to the investment protocol annexed to the agreement.

Transit trade and the possible drop in customs revenues as a result of the application of the customs cuts mentioned in the agreement will be discussed by the participants on this occasion.

They will also examine the dossier linked to negotiations on the liberalisation of trade in services and basic agricultural products, as well as the role of the African private sector in the implementation of this agreement, the same source said.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

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International Day of UN Peacekeepers: Tunisia renews call for more comprehensive concept of international peace and security

Tunisia observes on May 29, with all the United Nations Member States, the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, which marks, this year, the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the first peacekeeping mission under the banner of the United Nations, celebrated under the theme "Peace Begins with Me."

Tunisia seizes this opportunity to renew its call for a more comprehensive concept of international peace and security, based on international cooperation and solidarity and on a common understanding of the root causes of conflicts, in a way that would help achieve equitable and sustainable development for all countries and peoples, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad statement.

Since its first participation in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1960, Tunisia has been considered among the most important contributors to UN peacekeeping missions, given its conviction about the pivotal role played by these missions in order to protect civilians, support peacebuilding efforts and provide security in conflict contexts.

Tunisia's current contribution of about 1,000 military, police and corrections personnel, women and men, to UN missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali and Abyei, is testimony to our country's full involvement in this international multilateral instrument as a means to build sustainable peace and security, protect civilians, promote political solutions to crises and achieve recovery, reconstruction and development, despite the complexity of the areas of operations to which many UN peacekeeping missions are deployed and the volatile and dangerous working environments.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

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Two light aircraft crash in Chott Jerid, killing two French nationals and injuring two others

Two French nationals had been killed and two others injured on Saturday in a crash of two ultra-light aircraft in Chott Jerid, Spokesperson for the Civil Protection announced, indicating that the incident had taken place on the borders between Tozeur and Kebili governorates, south-east of Tunisia.

The first aircraft had been carrying two French nationals aged 60 and 62, both slightly injured, while the second aircraft had caught fire with on board the pilot and his companion, aged 78 and 55, the spokesman added.

Rescue teams from the Tozeur Local Civil Protection Directorate were deployed to the scene and rescued the two injured before transporting the two charred bodies from the Chott Jerid area to the Tozeur local hospital, reads a Civil Protection press release.

The spokesperson further indicated that a helicopter had been used by an air force unit to find the two aircraft, making it easier to locate them and intervene in time with all due efficiency.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse