By Michael Liswaniso
OPUWO
The Kunene Regional Council’s acting chief regional officer, George Kamseb, has called on residents and especially all operators using the Kamanjab/Omakange road to cooperate and adhere to speed limits.
He made the remarks while standing in for regional governor, Dudu Murorua, after a letter of similar concern from Windhoek Consulting Engineers (WCE) alerted his office about this worrisome behavior being perpetrated by some operators.
In a letter addressed to his office, the WCE singled out government registered vehicles as being the prominent perpetrators.
“We are experiencing ongoing serious problems with operators of GRN-registered vehicles that, for some unknown reason, seem to either disregard or totally ignore any traffic signs on both phase one and two.
“Recently, a number of GRN vehicles had been reported to this office as driving extremely fast on the gravel deviation, at speeds exceeding the applicable 60km/h restriction. It happened that some drivers were eventually stopped and reprimanded by on-site personnel and requested to keep to the applicable speed limit,” reads the letter that seeks assistance.
WCE stated that due to ongoing construction, a chain of permanent road signs are yet to be erected. Therefore, the engineering firm requested all operators to adhere to temporary traffic signs that depict speed limits in most cases.
“Due to many construction activities in progress over the length of the road, which includes heavy machinery and personnel moving about over the site, it is our gravest concern that before long, we will experience an unfortunate, even unnecessary, incident/accident on the road,” warned WCE.
“We acknowledge the fact that at this point in time, the situation of travelling at low speeds and driving on deviations might be irritating to most people, but unfortunately that is the fact of the matter until such time both projects have been completed. Our concern for overall safety on site, including road safety, not only lies with in-house personnel but with the public road user as well.”
WCE is an engineering firm that is currently monitoring the construction of both phases of the Kamanjab/Omakange road by Grinaker LTA.
Kamanjab-Omakange road is a stretch of some 204 kilometres.
The first phase of the construction which is some 104 kilometres is nearly completed with only a mere less than 10 kilometres stretch that is yet to be opened to traffic.
Once the entire project is complete, it will link Opuwo, the regional capital of Kunene, to the rest of the country’s road network.