Kuzeeko Tjitemisa
Windhoek-Roads Authority (RA) Chief Executive Officer, Conrad Lutombi has announced it has made significant progress in the first phase of the Windhoek-Hosea Kutako road upgrade to a dual carriageway.
Addressing the media last Friday, he said project is being constructed in two phases comprising of phase one, which consist of the upgrade to a dual carriageway over urban portion between main road 49 (Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue) and the extension of Sam Nujoma drive to the south east of Windhoek.
He said under phase one, 8.4 kilometers will be constructed to full a dual carriageway standard and in addition, ten new bridges and three interchanges will also be constructed.
He also said, two existing bridges over the railway line and the Arebbusch River will be widened and rehabilitated to increase its lifespan. “I am happy to share with you that work is progressing well,” he said.
He said phase two will start from the interchange of Sam Nujoma Drive to Hosea Kutako International Airport, covering a distance of 34 kilometers.
Lutombi says recently they received complaints from inhabitants living in and around the Auasblick, Cimbabasia, Olympia and Kleine Kluppe residential areas.
He said these complains are mainly about the excessive vibration caused by compacting equipment, possible damage to residential property as well as noise and dust pollution.
He said in light of such challenges, adequate public consultations were done before the commencement of the project and continuous public meetings are being held with all relevant stakeholders.
He said during these sessions, stakeholders were also informed of the fact that the proclamation of this road was done in the 1970’s and the construction of this project has been on the City of Windhoek’s plans.
Lutombi says the authority have taken note of the issues raised and the contractors have implemented measures which include drilling and blasting can contractually be carried out, under very strict blast energy control.
He said the contractor has, however, adopted pneumatic hammer breaking down to reduce vibration effect at his own costs.
“It is important to mention here vibration is required to compact material, without which the freeway cannot be constructed,” said Lutombi.
“Even though we are experiencing a few inconveniences. This is unfortunately the nature of this type of construction,” he said.
He said the benefits of this project for Namibia and SADC as a whole, far outweighs the inconveniences which are temporary.
“Let me use this platform to apologise for the inconveniences caused to those living alongside this project and also appeal to all the contractors to ensure a timely completion of this project,” he the RA chief.
He said the envisage completion date of this project is October 2019.