2017-12-15Staff Report 2 Kuzeeko Tjitemisa Windhoek The Road Fund Administration (RFA) and the Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) on Wednesday signed a N$470 million loan agreement for the rehabilitation of the Mariental-Keetmanshoop road. In a media statement issued yesterday, RFA communication and marketing manager Beaulah Garises said the loan stems from the agreement between the Namibian and German governments on financial cooperation. She said this agreement is specifically directed at the Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) support programme for road maintenance and rehabilitation. She added that the Keetmanshoop-Mariental road project will be implemented by the Roads Authority. Nampa late last year quoted Roads Authority chief executive officer Conrad Lutombi as saying the road from Keetmanshoop to Mariental is vital in the economic development of the country. “Goods are transported from South Africa via this road to the rest of the country, so it is important that it gets fixed,” the news agency quoted Lutombi as saying. The road stretches for about 220 kilometres on the national B1 and is described by many road users as hard, washed out, bumpy, narrow and full of potholes during the rainy season. Meanwhile, President Hage Geingob earlier this year launched the Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) – to which government has committed N$164.2 billion over the next five years. NDP5 has four key goals, namely achieve inclusive, sustainable and equitable economic growth; build capable and healthy human resources; ensure a sustainable environment and enhance resilience; and promote good governance through effective institutions. The formulation of NDP5 embraces the concept of partnership in the pursuit of the country’s national development goals. The National Planning Commission formulated NDP5 through extensive consultations with a wide variety of stakeholders, from local, regional and national representatives to civil society, the private sector and Namibia’s development partners. The NDP5 policy document, which outlines the desired outcomes and strategies, will be accompanied by an implementation plan, which details the cost parameters of the programmes and projects that will ensure the implementation of the identified strategies for each focus area in NDP5 and the achievement of the desired outcomes. It further contains the implementation tracking tables, which lay out indicators and indicator targets for each of the identified programmes and projects that will form the basis for monitoring. Caption (Mariental road) 2017-12-15Staff Report 2
