China Loan's 1 Billion $ to Namibia to Buy Software

The government will engage a Chinese software company to install an electronic management system for the public service.

Cabinet approved that the Office of the Prime Minister could secure funding under a concessional loan agreement signed last month between China and Namibia during the state visit of Chinese president Hu Jintao for the implementation of an Electronic Documentation and Records Management System (EDRMS) across the public service.

This is viewed as a critical project in terms of existing e-governance policy directives.
China offered over N$1 billion as a loan for projects to be identified by Namibia.
The EDRMS project team evaluated various appropriate software solutions and found that the system offered by Chinese outfit CA-China SS Software Technology would be best suited for the requirements of the Namibian public service.
"The system is not only government user friendly, but also offers easy-to-use interfaces and robust application software that will link up with already familiar public service platforms to ensure records and archival compliance," Information Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told reporters last week.

Cabinet therefore endorsed the EDRMS under the auspices of the Office of the Prime Minister on condition that it complies with tender procedures.

Cabinet instructed the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Commission to discuss the conditions, terms, modality of accessing the preferential loan and credit facility to finance the EDRMS and other priority projects in Namibia with the Chinese Government.

Cabinet also granted approval for the arrangement of the grant and the use of the concessional loans for the EDRMS project by the Export-Import Bank of China, subject to concurrence by the Chinese Government.

The company CA-CSS is a joint venture formed by New York-based commercial software associates (CA) and China National Computer Software & Technology Service Corporation (CS&S). The primary goal of the joint venture was to explore the potential presented by the Chinese software market by leveraging the resources and expertise from both parties.