The fo u r – l an e freeway connecting W i n d h o e k and Okahandja wi l l greatly enhance traffic f low, including the transportation of goods and services, Roads Authority CEO Conrad Lutombi has said. 

Lutombi was speaking at the opening ceremony of the last section of the freeway on Friday. 

“You will see now that many people who are living in Okahandja don’t have to leave at 04h00 to go to work in Windhoek. They can now leave at 07h00 and be there in 25 minutes. We can almost guarantee that we will not have head-on-collisions between Okahandja and Windhoek,” he said. 

“If you look at the traffic, our traffic count shows that between Windhoek and Okahandja, we have more than 15 000 vehicles passing per day. So, this road will facilitate both the movement of traffic as well as the movement of goods and services. So, it is very important.” 

The freeway, which has been under construction since 2019 at a cost of N$1.4 billion, is nearly complete, according to Lutombi. 

“We are almost 99% complete with the leg of Okahandja. We were busy with the construction from Omakunde to the Okahandja-Otjiwarongo interchange… and we are happy that we are now done and today we are opening this road to traffic for the public to start enjoying using it. Yes, we will still do some minor works, especially at the Okahandja-Otjiwarongo interchange, especially under the bridge, but overall, we are almost done,” Lutombi said. 

Jason Hashoshange, one of the project engineers who supervised the road construction, said the project was both challenging and fulfilling. 

“It was a challenging project as you wi l l appreciate that this road goes through the farming community. That means we had to do a lot of stakeholder consultations and engagements to make sure the farmers give permission for us to continue with the construction of the road, and also to make sure they are compensated accordingly,” he said. 

-Nampa