OTJIWARONGO: The Otjiwarongo Municipality on Thursday officially unvailled its newly purchased fleet of heavy machinery to be used for its road construction and maintenance-related activities at the town.
Otjozondjupa Governor, James Uerikua, who officiated the event near the Karundu Primary School in Orwetoveni residential area, stated that Otjiwarongo as an economic hub of the region needs the new fleet since the current one in use is 60-years-old..
The fleet includes a grader, roller compactor, front-end loader and a 14 000 litre water tank truck purchased at N.dollars 10.7 million, he said.
‘This town is key as it is strategically located, with approximately 45 000 inhabitants. Therefore, quality roads are needed to facilitate development and bring about service delivery to the people,’ he said.
Uerikua then used the same platform to announce the commencement of phase two rehabilitation and upgrading activities on Henk Willems Street connecting town to Orwetoveni area.
He said the construction activi
ties on the road will include interlocking, erecting signboards and build culverts where needed for a distance of one kilometre at a cost of N.dollars 5.5 million.
Uerikua however urged the municipality to repair all the broken roads with potholes since the town has N.dollars 31 million the council secured from the Road Fund Administration (RFA) for this financial year.
Otjiwarongo Mayor, Gottlieb Shivute, on his part said the council knows that the accessible road infrastructure plays a pivotal role in the development of any community.
‘It is against this background and in line with the council’s strategic objective on spatial planning and infrastructure development that we opted to improve this particular road with the interlocks over bitumen, because interlocking is durable, requires less maintenance and cost effective compared to the bitumen road standards,’ he said.
The rehabilitation and realignment of Henk Willems Street is expected to be completed in May 2024.
Officials from the Roads Authorities
(RA) and other regional leaders also attended the event.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency