Windhoek
As part of its annual road-surface maintenance programme the Windhoek Municipality granted a resurfacing tender to Tau Pele Construction Namibia, which started construction work in March and to finish in September.
“Maintence of roadsare to be done on a regular basis to ensure the integrity of the waterproof seal, however this will be impossible due to financial constraints as the cost ranges from approximately N$360 000 per km for a 6.7mm single seal to N$1.3 million per km for a 35mm premix overlay,” according to the annual resurfacing tender report issued last week by the municipality. Windhoek has a network of approximately 780km surfaced roads and streets but most of them are ageing and many have passed their original design of life. The report states that in cases where the upper foundation layers of the road have deformed the cost to recycle the upper layer amounts to approximately N$2.1 million per km, whereas when the road is allowed to completely fail the only option is to reconstruct it completely and this could escalate to at least N$5.7million per km.
During 2012/13 and 2014 a team of specialised engineers conducted a visual assessment to decide which roads to work on. “The actual quantity of work to be put out on tender was also subjected to budgetary constraints and only the highest priorities could be accomodated – thus the contract will mainly focus on higher order roads with tar surfaces , especially main roads and roads in industrial areas,” the resurfacing report further stated. The municipality intends to resurface 47 roads, among them Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue, Dr Kenneth Kaunda Street , Hendrick Witbooi Drive and Monte Christo Road.
The municipality assured the affected parties and the general public that it will do its utmost to reduce inconvenience and keep disruptions to a minimum.