THE rural community of Ibbu, a remote area 88 km from Katima Mulilo, now have a 36,5-kilometre gravel road linking them with the rest of the country.
Officiating at the opening ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Works and Transport, Chief Samuel Ankam, said the construction was labour-intensive in order to meet rural development needs.The construction of the new Muyako-Ngoma road was made possible with funding from the European Union to the tune of N$32,4 million.The new road passes through Mahundu, Ibbu, Mutikitila, Ngoma and Isuswa and connects to the Ngoma main road. The main road links Katima Mulilo with Kasane in Botswana.The project was part of the Government’s Caprivi regional road master plan, which aims to rehabilitate existing roads, upgrade gravel roads to tarred roads and build new gravel roads.The construction of the gravel road started in September 2007 and was completed in February this year. It created 500 temporary jobs and the contractors were encouraged to buy construction materials from within the region in order to boost the local economy. Two more gravel roads of 22 km and 5 km were built at Kongola on the Zambian border.Government officials said a new project was underway with the construction of a 26-km gravel road from Izimwe to Nakabolelwa in the flood-affected areas of the eastern Caprivi.Another 210 km will be tarred early 2011 from Liselo to Linyanti/Kongola via Singalamwe, according to the Roads Authority.A European Union representative at the ceremony, Joachim Knoth, said they had so far injected 53 million euros into rural development in Namibia. He said labour-intensive projects in formerly disadvantaged areas remained key to economic growth, employment creation and poverty reduction.
