The ruling SWAPO Party retained power, offering promises on new infrastructure development and the refurbishing and upgrading of existing ones.

On Dec. 3, 2024, Namibia concluded its presidential and parliamentary elections, which saw the ruling SWAPO Party retain power for the seventh time since independence in 1990, an uninterrupted winning streak that came with a heap of promises on new infrastructure development and the refurbishing and upgrading of existing ones, which if followed through, would herald a new growth phase for the country's paints and coatings market.

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, SWAPO¡¯s presidential candidate and winner of the election, became Namibia's fifth president and the first woman to hold this position. Nandi-Ndaitwah unveiled an ambitious manifesto ahead of the 2024 election campaigns, proposing several infrastructure projects for implementation over the next five years.
These include an increase in public spending on new transportation networks, a mass affordable housing construction program, and the expansion of the manufacturing segment to support Namibia¡¯s economic growth, which, however, slowed down in 2024 to 3.7% but is expected to improve to 4.1% in 2025.

Namibia, the SWAPO Party said, expects to implement an ambitious construction and expansion of water infrastructure, railway lines, road networks, education infrastructure, new energy and mining projects, many of them high consumers of anti-corrosive coatings.
Additional state-driven investments are expected as Namibia constructs new terminals at the Ports of Walvis Bay and L¨¹deritz, and in the maintenance and development of main road infrastructure.

Furthermore, the ruling party has pledged to allocate funds for the upgrading of the airports of Hosea Kutako International, Katima Mulilo, and Rundu by 2030.

Moreover, the new government is expected to pump more financial resources into the maintenance of the railway sections of Kranzberg-Tsumeb-Grootfontein, the Windhoek-Gobabis, and Keetmanshoop Luderitz and in the extension of Namibia¡¯s national railway network from Grootfontein Rundu-Katima Mulilo and Gobabis-Mamuno.

SWAPO has also promised to ¡°accelerate funding for the construction of rural feeder roads to ensure that all educational and health facilities are connected to the national road network so that constituencies, villages and farms can easily access markets,¡± with expectations of increase in demand for durable, hardwearing finish for use in marking of traffic lines and road markings on general road surfaces and parking lots in project areas.

Mass Housing Development Programme

A key project that the SWAPO Party and its previous governments have been implementing is the Mass Housing Development Programme (MHDP) that has been continuous since the launch of the blueprint in 2013.

The government has identified at least 21 sites across the country, mainly the regional capitals, for the implementation of the MHDP, hence creating more business opportunities for the architectural and decorative paint manufacturers and suppliers.

¡°As a government and nation, we have committed ourselves towards the provision and creation of opportunities for housing that is not only decent but also affordable to our people including the low- and ultra-income earners,¡± said Erastus Uutoni, Namibia¡¯s minister for urban and rural development during an October 2024 tour of the housing project sites. The program has been a key driver in Namibia¡¯s consumption trends of decorative paints, targeting these residential houses and other public buildings across the 14 administrative regions.

Namibia¡¯s Paints and Coatings Market

Although there are no precise statistics on Namibia¡¯s paints and coatings market, the national paints and coatings market has attracted an impressive list of competitors, some with international affiliations. Main market players in the Namibian market include Promac Paints, Peralin Paints, Freeworld Plascon Namibia, Neo Paints, Hempel Marine & Protective Paints, Dulux Namibia, and Koteit Namibia, to name but a few.

But even before SWAPO unveiled its manifesto with the infrastructure development election pledges, the country¡¯s ministry of finance had presented the country¡¯s financial year 2024/2025 budget with economic growth projections anchored on infrastructure expansion and a strong manufacturing base under the country¡¯s medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF).

In his budget speech in February 2024, Iipumbu Shiimi, Namibia¡¯s minister of finance and public enterprises, reiterated government commitments to invest at least US$117 million in several infrastructure projects, including railway, new school classrooms, and upgrading of informal settlements, especially in urban areas.

Specific projects targeted include the US$103 million upgrading of the Kranzberg-Otjiwarongo railway section and the US$27 million rehabilitation of the Sandverhaar-Buchholzbrunn railway section in the south of Namibia.

In fact, Shiimi said the government set aside US$136 million for the entire transportation sector, including railway projects, construction of new classrooms, and upgrading of informal settlements likely with an affordable housing scheme under the government's MTEF.

¡°Critical sections of the national railway line are in a state of disrepair and will thus enjoy attention from a funding perspective over the MTEF,¡± Shiimi said.
Over the MTEF, Namibia expects to spend a total of US$359 million for the railway network development that is expected to create increased demand for protective coatings and sealants as the country seeks to increase its mineral and industrial output that relies more on rail transport. 

The planned government expenditure and additional projects in the energy and mining sectors are likely to boost the revival efforts of Namibia¡¯s construction sector, which had shown weak performance in 2023 despite a substantial increase in the government¡¯s construction budget.

¡°After contracting by 0.2 percent in 2023, the sector is expected to see a modest recovery with projected 3.5 percent and 8.5 percent growth rates for 2024 and 2025, respectively,¡± the bank says.

Recovery of Namibia¡¯s construction industry and the commitment by the new government to pump more financing into new projects would greatly impact the manufacture and supply of architectural and decorative coatings at least in the next few years.

¡°This recovery is expected to be driven by increased construction activities in the mining and electricity sectors and government fiscal projects,¡± the bank says.
Namibia, like the rest of the world, is grappling with the effects of climate change and attempting to minimize emissions through various government-driven policies. The paints and coatings industry is not exempt from ensuring the sustainability of their manufacturing processes and final products.

The impact of Namibia¡¯s drive to reduce carbon emissions is likely to shape the enhancement of formulations by the country¡¯s paints and coatings manufacturers even as they strive to achieve high-quality products to protect the steel and concrete deployed in Namibia¡¯s new infrastructure projects.

Moreover, with the government move to woo more foreign investors to engage in public-private partnerships with the approval of the 2017 law that backs up the PPPs, more paints and coatings companies are expected to partner with Namibian firms in the production and distribution of more sustainable protective products, a trend likely to fast-track the embrace of green credentials by the country¡¯s paints and coatings industry in the long term.

Shem Oirere, Africa Correspondent