The Roads Authority (RA) is a non-profit making public entity which was established in the year 2000 by virtue of the Roads Authority Act 17 of 1999 with the sole mandate to manage Namibia’s national road network with a view to achieve a safe and efficient road sector. The RA aligns its Strategic Plan, Key performance indicators (KPI) and Road Master Plan with the National Development Plan (NDP5) and Harambee Prosperity Plan, that confines to Namibia’s Vision 2030. It is through that alignment that RA ensures that projects and programmes are implemented according to national priority. The RA endeavors to strive to extend Namibia’s road network to all corners of the country by constructing safe and efficient roads.
Currently the road network encompasses 48,899.89km of roads, of which 8,259.4 km is bitumen roads, 25,889.3 is gravel, 13,359.9 is earth road, 189.3 km is salt road and 1201.9 km is proclaimed only roads.
The road network grew from 41, 815 km at Independence to 48,899.89 km currently hence an increase of 7,084.89 km, which is 17%.
The country’s bitumen road network has increased since Independence from 4, 572 km to 8,259.4 km, which represents a growth of 73%.
It’s noticeable that a number of gravel roads were upgraded to bitumen standard, thus the increase in the gravel road network appears to be minimal.
The country has made substantial progress with regard to the development of its national road network since Independence in 1990. RA says that the gravel road network was 25,550 km and as we speak, the total gravel road network amounts to 26,046.6 km.
The RA has constructed/upgraded 40 driver testing and registration centres in the past 30 years per 14 political regions and also eight weighbridges were built by RA since 2000 in addition to the two which were inherited from government, and four of these weighbridges has since been upgraded.
New fully-fledged vehicle and driver testing centres were constructed from scratch in different towns like Ongwediva, Oshakati, Rundu, Katima Mulilo, Lüderitz, Opuwo, Outapi, Eenhana and Gobabis. Vehicle and driver testing centres upgraded to required standards were in Windhoek, Karasburg, Grootfontein, Outjo, Gobabis and in Outjo. New NaTIS centres established during the past 30 years were in Ruacana and Nkurenkuru.
The focus is to reach the target of improving service delivery at NaTIS centres to above 70% customer satisfaction. Eight weighbridges were also built during the past 30 years in Brakwater (Windhoek North), Aris (Windhoek South), Gobabis, Rosh Pinah, Walvis Bay, Oshivelo, Onhuno and in Katima Mulilo. And only four were upgraded/renovated, namely, at Ariamsvlei, Noordoewer, Katima Mulilo and Onhuno. The RA looks forward for the establishment of new NaTIS centres in 2020/21 Financial Year (FY). Targeted towns are Divundu, Okongo, Omuthiya, Henties Bay and Arandis.
RA aspires to manage a sustainable road sector that is ahead of national and regional socio-economic needs in pursuit of Namibia’s Vision 2030. However, it is known that proactive collaboration amongst decision-makers of all transport modalities is required to ensure that RA unlocks the synergy. It requires a collective focus on the transport and logistics needs of the Namibian nation, within the context of the National Development Agenda, as opposed to having tunnel vision.
“As we celebrate three decades of peace, democracy and prosperity, this again requires leadership from all modes of transport to come together and align strategies to ensure a sustainable transport sector to stimulate and sustain Namibia’s growth going forward,’’ says RA CEO Conrad Lutombi.
‘’We are under no illusion that we need to become more effective and efficient in managing resources given the current global financial downturn.
Public-private partnership must be explored to continue to manage the road network optimally to achieve a safe and efficient road sector in support of socio-economic growth. he added.”
To ensure further development, RA is busy with programmes to develop and expand the seven regional transport corridor routes that connect the country with neighbouring states through the port of Walvis Bay.
In addition, the transport sector is busy establishing its logistic hub facilities that will include amongst other dry ports and storage facilities at Karibib, Grootfontein and Katima Mulilo to assist landlocked countries to reduce travelling time to the coastal towns. Furthermore, the construction of major projects such as the Hosea Kutako International Airport-Windhoek dual carriageway road project, will promote Namibia as a logistic hub by providing a link to the rail network and international airport infrastructure.
The RA aligns its Strategic Plan, key performance indicators (KPIs) and Road Master Plan with the National Development Plan (NDP5) and Harambee Prosperity Plan that confines to Namibia’s Vision 2030. It is through that alignment that RA ensures that projects and programmes are implemented according to national priority. Additionally, the organisation implements programmes aimed at providing rural access to the community by connecting the communities to schools, clinics and community centres. It is currently busy completing gravels roads in the Omusati region, which are part of the Rural Access Roads programme.
This initiative will soon commence in the Ohangwena region and will be extended to the Kavango East and West regions as well.
The RA provides on-the-job training to SMEs in the road construction industry, especially in the field of road maintenance and labour based road construction. It always ensures that employment opportunities are created for Namibians on road construction and maintenance projects. This is in line with the RA’s SME Development Policy, which takes cognizance of the fact that creating employment is one of the major national development goals of the Government of the Republic of Namibia. For bigger capital projects, the RA has advocated the awarding of road projects to joint ventures between well-established Namibian and international road contractor companies, primarily on the premise of skills transfer, capacity building and growing the Namibian road construction industry. These efforts will continue to benefit local contractors. ◆