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Govt to ‘financially’ revive roads contractor in five years

Veikko Nekundi

The government plans to revive the struggling Roads Contractor Company within five years through a recapitalisation strategy focused on equipment procurement and dedicated project allocations.

Established under the Roads Contractor Company (RCC) Act of 1999, the company is responsible for road construction, maintenance, and civil works.

The RCC has been in financial limbo for some years now, but minister of works and transport Veikko Nekundi on Thursday revealed that the ministry hopes to revive the company.

Nekundi was responding to questions by Independent Patriots for Change parliamentarian Nelson Kalangula in the National Assembly.

Kalungula said the government seems to have no plan to solve the RCC’s issues and suggested it be shut down to curb wasting taxpayer money.

“As a stakeholder we have gone through the turnaround strategy as presented by the board, and the government is still confident there is hope to turn around the company in three to five years,” Nekundi said.

He said the government intends to support the RCC by allocating projects to execute and generate revenue for its existence.

Nekundi said the company is still operational and is currently involved in several capital road projects and road maintenance projects.

He, however, said due to what happened to the RCC from 2016 to 2024, some of the company’s capital assets (production assets) have been auctioned.

This has left the RCC without adequate equipment to continue with major road servicing and construction work.

Nekundi said this is why most of the work allocated to the company was subcontracted to other companies through joint partnership agreements.

“The RCC board and management have crafted a recapitalisation plan which calls for new productive equipment and supports enabled assets,” the minister said.

The lease-to-own plan, Nekundi said, has started to yield positive results.

Equipment delivered so far include two dozers, four excavators, eight graders, four loaders, nine tipper trucks, two vibro rollers, three water trucks, nine light delivery vehicles, and eight accommodation/office containers.

The delivery of this critical equipment will continue in line with factory production, the minister said.

Nekundi responded to an estimated annual allocation to the RCC of N$55.9 million, saying the RCC’s bad history is long gone as the ministry is determined to transform it step by step.

As a result, he has instructed the company to finalise its 2022/23 and 2024/25 financial reports to be tabled in the National Assembly.

Nekundi last year directed all state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to submit their asset registers, to which the RCC complied.

At the ministry’s staff meeting in March 2025, Nekundi directed SOEs under the ministry to ensure that at least one third of subcontractors be locally based, while any materials/imports, if locally produced, should be accordingly procured.

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