The government will have to cough up atleast N$7 billion to complete the dualisation of the 90 kilometre Windhoek-Rehoboth Road, The Brief has established.
The project, which was approved more than eight years ago by the government as part of various road network upgrades, is being undertaken in four phases and could be completed by 2030.
“The GRN initiated a few projects about 8 years ago to improve safety on the roads leading in and out of the Capital Windhoek, which included Windhoek-Okahandja, Windhoek-Airport and also Windhoek-Rehoboth. The project is the upgrade of the existing road between Windhoek and Rehoboth to dual-carriageway freeway, which will be to the same standards as the ongoing upgrades on the mentioned corridors,” Gert Maritz, CEO of Lithon Project Consultants (Namibia) which was awarded the project told The Brief.
“The first few km’s south of Windhoek is extremely expensive due to the mountainous terrain. There are other 4 phases, with the first phase being the first 4km of road section from the Western bypass leading south. The second phase will lead up to Omeya, then from Omeya up to 15km north of Rehoboth, with the last phase the Eastern Bypass connecting south of Rehoboth. The entire project timeframe, budget permitting, can take up to 8 years to complete. The mentioned phases will in most likelihood be divided into sub-phases.”
He said funding challenges had negatively impacted the timely implementation of the road expansion, which commenced with the first phase in 2020, consisting of the first 4km of freeway and to connect the road via a service road to the existing roadblock.
“The main challenge is budget constraints at the moment due to the economic downturn experienced in Namibia. There are fortunately no material supply or resource challenges despite the ongoing turmoil in the world. It is anticipated to commence with the next phase towards mid-2023,” the Lithon Project Consultants CEO said.
Maritz said it is anticipated that 160 jobs would be created during the construction timeframe.
“As with any infrastructure project, whether rail, road, water infrastructure etc, the economy of a specific area is boosted, which indirectly creates jobs in the long term because of the infrastructure improvement. This is one of the main reasons for the GRN spending billions of Namibian Dollars to ensure the economy does not stagnate or even decline as a lack of infrastructure improvement,” he said.
This comes as the Roads Authority recently revealed that the Windhoek to Okahandja road upgrades was expected to be completed next year, 2023, around December, with the final completion slated for early 2024.
The construction of the said road, which is being upgraded from a dual carriageway to a four-lane freeway, started in January 2016, and section one of the project, spanning 27.6 kilometres, was completed in January 2020 at a cost of N$1 billion, fully funded by the Namibian government.
However, the last stretch of 21 kilometres was envisaged to be completed in July 2020 at a cost of N$900 million.
Contractors are currently working on Phase 2B, the third and last section of the dual carriageway construction at Windhoek-Hosea Kutako International Airport.
The section commences at the Dordabis interchange and continues in an eastward direction up to HKIA, covering a distance of 21.3 kilometres.
The project entails the construction of the 21.3 kilometres of dual-carriage freeway, three interchanges to be located at Dordabis, Sonnleiten and HKIA, and two river bridges and drainage structures.
Phase 1 which starts from Unam, which was completed this year in July. Phase 2 A, is set for completion in 2023 September and the final phase, 2B is due for completion in September 2024.
