RFA sets aside N$248m for Walvis Bay road upgrade

The Road Fund Administration (RFA) has committed N$248 million to rehabilitate and widen municipal roads leading to the port of Walvis Bay.

The funds will come from road user charges (RUC) funding.

The RFA, the Walvis Bay municipality and the Roads Authority on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure continuous refurbishment of roads used by cargo traffic at Walvis Bay.

RFA chief executive officer Ali Ipinge said the funding allocated is determined and applied based on the principles of economic efficiency, safety, equity and transparency.

Ipinge said through this joint understanding, the parties involved would ensure added support to the national vision of promoting the national road corridors and logistical hub ideals, as contained in Namibia’s Vision 2030.

“The strategic corridor upgrades are in line with positioning Namibia as a logistics hub by 2025 and attaining the vision of an industrialised nation by 2030.

“The prospects of green hydrogen production and recent discoveries in the oil and gas energy sectors would require road infrastructure that can support and sustain future primary and secondary industries,” he said.

Ipinge said the Erongo region, as the mining and industrial hub of Namibia, has benefited from major capital roadwork projects such as the upgrade of the the MR44 and TR2/1 Walvis Bay-Swakopmund dual carriageways and the MR44 and MR76 Swakopmund-Henties Bay-Uis-Kamanjab roads.

Recently, at the Eneas Peter Nanyemba Road project in Windhoek, RFA said it collected N$ 2,42 billion in revenue, of which 55% was derived from fuel levies.

“The RFA is challenged to identify new RUC revenue sources in order to cover the funding void created from the diminishing fuel levy,” Ipinge said.

“Failure to adopt new funding sources will subsequently lead to underfunding and extensive deterioration of our roads,” he said.
Ipinge said the RFA is committed to increasing its investment in the roads sector by 25% for the period 2023 to 2028, and this will accommodate different strategic and key national road projects.

“Over the past two and a half years, the funding allocations to the local authorities have more than doubled from N$104 million to N$216 million. Such a big increase demonstrates the RFA’s commitment to the betterment and improvement of urban roads, having endured years of underfunding,” he said.