Rudolf Gaiseb
The Minister of Works and Transport Veikko Nekundi said N$825 million will be needed for the development of transportation infrastructure programme.
The programme intends to upgrade gravel roads to bitumen standard.
It includes the construction of feeder and access roads.
It facilitates the rehabilitation of roads as well as the construction and maintenance of State-owned aerodromes.
“The ministry continues with the construction of district and access roads, which provides accessibility by rural communities to economic centres and social centres,” Nekundi said in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
He reported the completion of the rehabilitation of the 58-kilometre Windhoek-Okahandja TR1/6 [Trunk Road] to a dual carriageway from Brakwater to the intersection of the Okahandja-Karibib and Okahandja-Otjiwarongo roads.
In addition, he mentioned an upgrade of the Walvis Bay to Swakopmund (Phase 1) [main road] MR44, MR36 and TR2/1, with an extension of 12km.
Nekundi highlighted that the recent flood events had caused damage to many roads and disrupted the operation of many sectors.
Considering this, he requested N$49.8 million to be allocated to the Meteorological Services Administration.
“The purpose of this programme is to provide timely and quality weather, climate and early warning services to all sectors, such as aviation, disaster risk reduction, agriculture, transport, health, energy, fisheries, environment and construction, whose operations are sensitive to the vagaries of extreme meteorological hazards and disasters,” he stated.
The minister expressed the ministry’s desire for Namibia to have safe and reliable rail transport infrastructure.
It aims to accomplish this through the programme, provision and upgrading of the railway network.
“This programme is to plan, construct, upgrade and maintain railway infrastructure for a safe and efficient railway network that supports socio-economic development.
The ministry requested N$990 million for this programme.
Last year, the ministry completed the 226km of the railway line upgrade between Walvis Bay and Kranzberg.
The construction of the Oshakati Station buildings, platforms and civil works, including the installation of the CCTV [Closed-Circuit Television] security monitoring, was completed.
The minister reported that over the past three years, TransNamib transported an average of 1.3 to 1.5 million tonnes of freight annually, amounting to only 12% of the total national freight volume.
Additionally, the ministry requested N$103.4 million, which will be implemented in line with the International Maritime Organisation instruments relating to flag, port and coastal state obligation.
It includes the registration and licensing of ships and seafarers, maritime safety and surveillance, marine pollution control, marine search and rescue coordination.
Also on the cards is an allocation of N$562 million for the Namibia Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
“Providing air traffic services requires the NCAA to utilise sophisticated equipment like the Radar (primary and secondary), Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems. In future, Namibia will be able to take over air traffic services over Namibia’s oceanic airspace and the airspace south of 273 000 degrees from South Africa,” he said.