Areva Resources가 남서 아프리카 나미비아 Wlotzkabaken 지역에 담수플랜트를 무료로 제공할 계획이라고 밝힌 최근 보고서를 부인했다. 또, 나미비아에 담수플랜트를 미화 2억5천만 달러에 판매할 의향이 있다고 밝혔다. Areva는 나미비아의 Erongo 광산에 물을 공급하고, 강이 없는 지역의 물 부족 현상을 완화하기 위해 Swakopmund에서 북쪽으로 30km 떨어진 지점에 담수화 플랜트를 건설한 바 있다.

Areva의 최고 경영자 Hilifa Mbako는 “우리는 어떠한 이익이 발생된다는 계획 없이는 담수플랜트를 무료로 제공할 수 없다”며 “물 부족 현상을 완화할 수 있는 적은 비용을 지불해야 한다”고 말했다. 그는 정부와 협상이 완료될 시 Husab, Rossing 우라늄 광산에 물을 공급할 것이라고 입장을 표명했다.

 

 

 

Areva Resources has denied recent reports that it plans to give, free of charge, its desalination plant at Wlotzkabaken in Namibia to the south-west African country's government. The Paris-based infrastructure company insisted it intended to sell the N$ 3 billion (US$ 250 million) desalination plant to Namibia.

 

Areva constructed the desalination plant about 30 km north of Swakopmund, to supply water to mines in Erongo and to alleviate water shortages in a region that has no perennial rivers.

 

Chief executive officer of Areva Resources, Hilifa Mbako said the plant was offered for sale to the government last December for an undisclosed sum. "We are not planning to make any profit from the sale but one must take into account the cost at which the facility was constructed, which makes it clear that it cannot just be offered freely. The cost must at least be recovered," Mbako said.

 

He said the plant currently supplies Husab and Rossing Uranium mines with water and would continue to do so if the deal with the government is completed.

 

He said that Areva was not compelled to sell the plant and can keep it "but due to the fact that water is a basic need, it should be in the hands of the government", he said.

The plant has a design capacity of 20 million cubic metres a year. Erongo's annual demand is at least 11 million cubic metres of water.

 

Due to the massive transformation the Erongo region is undergoing, by 2020 the water demand for water is expected to have increased from the current 6 million a year to 32 million cubic metres a year.

[출처 = Desalination & Water Reuse / 2015년 3월 30일]