OTJIWARONGO - The Otjiwarongo Municipality on Thursday officially unveiled its newly purchased fleet of heavy machinery to be used for its road construction and maintenance-related activities at the town.
Otjozondjupa governor James Uerikua who officiated the event near the Karundu Primary School in the Orwetoveni residential area, stated that Otjiwarongo, as an economic hub of the region, needs the new fleet since the current one in use is 60 years old.
The fleet includes a grader, roller compactor, front-end loader, and a 14 000 litre water tank truck purchased at N$10.7 million, he said.
“This town is key as it is strategically located, with approximately 45 000 inhabitants. Therefore, quality roads are needed to facilitate development and bring about service delivery to the people,” said Uerikua.
He used the platform to announce the commencement of phase two rehabilitation and upgrading activities on Henk Willems Street connecting the town to Orwetoveni area.
He said the construction activities on the road will include interlocking, erecting signboards, and building culverts where needed for a distance of one kilometre at a cost of N$5.5
million.
The governor, however, urged the municipality to repair all the broken roads with potholes since the town has N$31 million the council secured from the Road Fund Administration (RFA) for this financial year.
Otjiwarongo mayor Gottlieb Shivute said the council knows that the accessible road infrastructure plays a pivotal role in the development of any community.
“It is against this background and in line with the council’s strategic objective on spatial planning and infrastructure development that we opted to improve this particular road with the interlocks over bitumen, because interlocking is durable, requires less maintenance and cost effective compared to the bitumen road standards,” he said.
The rehabilitation and realignment of Henk Willems Street is expected to be completed in May 2024.
Officials from the Roads Authority (RA) and other regional leaders also attended the event.
– Nampa
Caption: New fleet… Otjiwarongo mayor Gottlieb Shivute.
Photo: Nampa