Arandis ( naq, the place where people cry) is a town in the

Erongo Region Erongo is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. The capital is Swakopmund. It is named after Mount Erongo, a well-known landmark in Namibia and in this area. Erongo contains the municipalities of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Henties Bay and Omaruru, as ...

of western central

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

. It has been called the ''Uranium Capital of the World'' as it is located just 15 km outside the world's largest open-pit

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly ...

mine, the Rössing Uranium Mine. Established for the workers of Rössing Uranium in 1978, Arandis was granted self–administration and "town" status in 1994. it has 7,600 inhabitants, most of whom are somehow connected to the mine, and owns of land. Besides Rössing, Arandis also serves the Husab and Trekkopje uranium mines. It is the home of the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology, a technical institute focusing on training skilled industrial workers.

Economy and infrastructure

The 2000s saw a resurgence in economic growth in Arandis. With the global energy crisis, a significant rise in demand occurred for nuclear energy, increasing demand for Arandis' Uranium. Banks, which had previously closed and youth who had previously left the town seeking employment elsewhere, returned. In 2008, negotiations were at an advanced stage for a Chinese company, ''Namibia Industrial Mining Limited'' to build a factory for making building materials in Arandis. After an investment conference was held in 2011, investors have decided to erect a shopping mall in town. Construction of the mall started soon afterwards, the anticipated completion date is May 2013.

Transportation

The Arandis Railway Station is a

crossing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

on the Trans-Namib Railway between

Swakopmund Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and cover ...

and

Usakos , nickname = , settlement_type = Town , motto = Excelsior , image_skyline = Usakos Luftaufnahme (2018).jpg , imagesize = 300 , image_caption = Aerial photograph of Usakos (2018 ...

. Arandis Airport is also nearby.

Education

Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology
(NIMT) is a technical vocational training institute in Arandis, Namibia, established in 1991. There is a secondary school and a primary school in the Town vicinity namely Kolin Foundation Secondary School and U.B. Dax Primary School.

Politics

Arandis is governed by a town council that has seven seats. In the 2010 local authority elections

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

won the town council with 664 votes. The United Democratic Front (UDF) finished in second place with 243 votes while the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) received 72 votes. SWAPO also won the 2015 local authority elections, gaining 5 seats (780 votes). The remaining 2 seats went to the UDF (295 votes). SWAPO also won the 2020 local authority election but for the first time failed to gain the majority of seats in the town council. SWAPO obtained 551 votes and gained three seats. Runner-up

Independent Patriots for Change The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) is a political party in Namibia. It was founded by Panduleni Itula in August 2020. As an independent presidential candidate in the November 2019 election, Itula won the best result of a losing candida ...

(IPC, newly formed in August 2020) gained two seats (405 votes), and UDF and

Landless People's Movement The Landless People's Movement was an independent social movement in South Africa. It consisted of rural people and people living in shack settlements in cities. The Landless People's Movement boycotted parliamentary elections and had a history ...

(LPM) gained one seat each with 230 and 140 votes, respectively.

External links

References