NKURENKURU – Kavango West Governor Sirkka Ausiku says the lack of roads is a serious setback and contributes to the scourge of poverty in her region.

“We want the works ministry, along with the Roads Authority, to look at our plight. Our region needs support in the area of roads infrastructure to help ease movement,” she told New Era in an exclusive interview recently.

Apart from some beautiful national roads from Mururani to Rundu, Nkurenkuru to Eenhana, and Mpungu to Tsumeb, the region still lacks roads to connect inhabitants to other parts of the regions. 

Kavango West currently has mostly sandy roads – and to get around the region, one needs a 4x4 vehicle.

“The region’s appeal to the ministry of works and the RA is to prioritise one or two roads in the next five years, especially Charlie Cutline, which connects almost all our eight constituencies.” 

The governor noted that having better roads will also enable economic activities within the region. 

“Small scale farmers will be able to transport their produce to the market on time – and this, in turn, will stimulate our local economy plus create jobs for our communities.”

Ausiku said access to deep inland areas for service delivery has proven to be very difficult due to the lack of roads.

In response, the RA said only one gravel road was completed after 2013, which is the Kamupupu-Mbururu road – and no road was constructed since the region was created seven years ago.

“The RA is currently in the process of procuring design services for three projects in the region, including upgrading to gravel standards of district roads DR 3446 (Charlie Cutline),” said RA corporate communications officer Constance Mwilima.