By Quinton Chimine
THE Katima Mulilo Town Council (KMTC) in partnership with Road Funds Administration (RFA) and Roads Authority (RA), have co-opted to upgrade key economical streets that link the town of Katima Mulilo with the international borders for supply chains, are currently underway.
The most highly roads to be upgraded are Sam Nujoma drive, (formerly known as Malena Street) the longest street in town which was not constructed to bitumen standard, Hage Geingob Street (former Imukusi Street) that passes through the town centre of Katima Mulilo is also to be upgraded to a bitumen standard with Lifasi Street, which stretches to Katima Mulilo Mulilo Town Council’s Offices going south connecting to Richard Kapelwa Kabajani Street in Ngweze location now under construction since 2022.
This was revealed during a press conference held recently, where Katima Mulilo Town Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Raphael Liswaniso divulged that KMTC received N$12 million from RFA and out of that amount N$2,9 million was not used for a year due to challenges which they had with the Ministry of Finance based on the procurement accountment that was done.
“I would like to assure Road Funds Administration CEO, money that comes to us is not deposited directly into our account and it was taken back by RFA, later we were given little money from that amount, to that effect it has to expand for two years, we bought equipment which residents of Katima Mulilo saw” stressed KMTC CEO.
He however added that they are some economic roads in Katima such as Hage Geingob Street which is marked with red is the busiest road in the town which is damaged by trucks when delivering goods to businesses in town.
According to Mr. Liswaniso, KMTC is mainly focused on Lifasi, Geingob and Nujoma streets respectively.
He added and promised that Lifasi Street will be constructed with interlocks, with the assistance from RFA, and with the little budget Katima Council have will add on to push the work to the end.
Roads marked with blue are national roads and Mafuta has been put into bitumen standard, and there is still another one which is also a national road passing behind Choto from Kambinda village and a letter has been already written to Roads Authority for assistance because it connects up to Chefuzwe.
“Why we are concerned about that is because Chefuzwe road passes through Dairy and Cowboy compounds and it has become dust as trucks are also using it making lot of dust and people are suffering from that dust especially those living next to the road” he remarked.
Mr. Liswaniso further noted that Roads Authority with their memorandum of understanding they need to put these roads on their plans.
Mr. Ali Ipinge Road Funds Administration (RFA), Chief Executive Officer said RFA has been a key part and partner to Roads Authority and Katima Mulilo Town Council by extension to the road users that are in Katima Mulilo Local Authority.
According to Mr. Ipinge, he pointed out that three years ago there was a challenge in the town of Katima Mulilo around Choto area, RFA and RA decided for the benefit of road users in the specific area to address those challenges.
“I think due to that cooperation between RA, RFA and KMTC has to be agreed in the road that has been added to road plans to be a road user and also to the citizens from that specific area and those are kind of cooperation that we believe will add value to the road users” explained Mr. Ipinge.
RFA Chief , stressed that the result of challenges to their representation particularly within the local authority area they generally wants Roads Authority because they also want to improve cooperation to enter into some new atrium that can allow road administration to whatever resources are being pledged will ensure that they feel Hage Geingob Street and Sam Nujoma Drive, that are in the dare need full rehabilitation where they will need to provide numerous support measures, and make sure that they are updated.
Mr.Ipinge further explained that supporting and backing of the road by Roads Authority as for the design standard proposed are also at its provision adding that they will make sure that when providing the issuing of funding are above of what they have already committed as they want to see the value of money, which is part of their project to make sure that road users get value for money of their contributions which they offer and by doing that they will enter into a new cooperation agreement between the three institutions that will lead specific full rehabilitation of Sam Nujoma Drive and Hage Geingob Street from KMTC.
However, Roads Authority CEO Mr. Conrad Lutombi commended technical support for the implementation of the two roads.
“We are at an advanced stage in terms of our deliberations with the town council; we have a technical team to deal with such issues, and of course, we are also going to include the representative from RFA so that the two institutions work together, and once all parties are in agreement, we will sign it and see the implementations as soon as possible.” Said Mr. Lutombi
He said, the 20-kilometer road from Kongola to Katima Mulilo also needs attention, and the Roads Authority will attend to it after the rehabilitation of the Rundu -Divundu road.
He further said, as part of their intervention within the town of Katima, they have also noticed the congestion between the weighbridge and the link to the border. Therefore, they are working on the request of the town council to put the traffic lights at the turn-off to Sam Nujoma, but just in front of the weigh bridge, they are going to construct a two plus one carriageway so that there can resolve the problem of decongestion in that area. They have already completed the design, and they will be having the constructor very soon.
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