Office of the Spokesperson
In a display of enduring friendship and the important bilateral partnership, U.S. Ambassador to Windhoek Lisa A. Johnson, Deputy Foreign Minister, Honorable Jenelly Matundu, and Mayor of Windhoek, Her Worship Fransina Kahungu, broke ground today on the new U.S. Embassy campus in Windhoek, Namibia.
The new U.S. Embassy will provide a state-of-the-art, modern, and resilient platform for U.S. diplomacy in Namibia. Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill of San Francisco, California is the design architect for the project and B.L. Harbert International of Birmingham, Alabama, is the construction contractor. The project is expected to be completed in 2023.
The United States plans to invest more than $17 million in the local economy as part of the construction contract and to employ more than 2,000 Namibians to complete the project.
These workers will learn leading industry technical skills and safety awareness that will help provide lasting skills that will benefit the workers and Namibia’s construction industry.
Since the start of the Department’s Capital Security Construction Program in 1999, OBO has completed 162 new diplomatic facilities and has an additional 51 projects in design or under construction.
OBO provides safe, secure, functional, and resilient facilities that represent the U.S. Government to the host nation and support the Department’s achievement of U.S. foreign policy objectives abroad. These facilities represent American values and the best in American architecture, design, engineering, technology, sustainability, art, culture, and construction execution.
For further information, please contact Christine Foushee at FousheeCT@state.gov or visit www.state.gov/obo.