New US embassy to open in January
The new state-of-the-art N$5.3 billion United States Embassy office will officially open its doors towards the end of January 2024.According to the US Ambassador to Namibia, Randy Berry, the new office will house all current embassy, consular as well as US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff.
Currently, US embassy staff are divided between the main office in Ausspannplatz and the Sanlam building.
One of the key things we do at the embassy is work with the health ministry through PEPFAR and CDC, and currently our medical staff sit in three offices, which makes communication difficult. An entire floor of the office will house all the medical staff members.
"One thing I am proud of is the aesthetic of the building with flora and fauna that was built with for the local environment, to account for energy and water consumption and it’s that marriage of form and function that will make the new office a very dynamic campus to work on,” he said during a private media tour of the new facility.
The building comes with a fully equipped gym, lactation room, and vaccination and health center. In addition, the building is covered in solar panels which provide over 400 kWP, powering 50% of the building’s needs.
The construction manager for the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, Scott Stables, said through the construction of the new building the US embassy was able to pump approximately N$310 million into Namibia’s economy.
"More than 2 000 Namibians were employed for the building’s construction of which 200 were women. Furthermore, the workers were provided with meals every day including 400 000 meals to employees’ school-going children and children in their communities,” he added.