A Dutch development financing institution, Invest International, is confident that every cent of the multi-million dollar grant to Namibia will be accounted for under the country's SDG1 Fund.

Invest International's Chief Executive Officer, Joost Oorthuizen, said €40 million, equivalent to N$779 million, would help kick-start financing for green hydrogen and infrastructure projects under the newly launched SDG1 Namibia Fund.

The company has lauded the government's transparency towards development financing and says it has no reservations on how the grant will be deployed.

"We are perfectly comfortable that the money will be spent wisely; the other thing is that we want other donors and financiers to be attracted to this fund. Green hydrogen is expensive; I mean, 40 million is good, but it's not enough because these projects are large. So we really hope that setting up this fund allows you to pull resources and at the same time, be transparent and accountable in how the money is used."

So far, N$11 billion has been mobilized in grants and concessional financing since the launch of the fund during COP 27.

Given that green hydrogen is a new industry, Invest International says Namibia would need to build capacity as well as make strategic decisions about investing in projects that strengthen the local green transition.

"Next to the €40 million, we have made available €3 million for the implementation authority office that is going to be set up because this is a new terrain and your government does not have enough capacity to deal with all the interests that are coming in. So, we give this to you to set up to hire lawyers and engineers to better deal with all the international and local demands."

Oorthuizen advised that employment priority be given to Namibians and skills transfer be a consideration in cases where labor is imported.