A delegation from Sierra Leone, on a study visit in Namibia, commended the country’s road network, even dubbing it the ‘Europe of Africa’ due to its road management system.
Namibia boasts the best road infrastructure in Africa, consistently ranking first in various reports and surveys.
The Sierra Leone delegation toured the capital city, Windhoek, to assess and study the design, shape and road conditions.
They proceeded to the N$3 billion Windhoek-Hosea Kutako International Airport dual carriageway road, as well as the Windhoek-Okahandja Road.
“We were surprised to see all things one would need in road construction being here in Namibia, from geometry, layout, materials and even designs as perfect, and these assessments are based upon experience,” Altered Jalil Momodu, Director General of Sierra Leone’s Roads Authority said.
“In addition, the road markings, traffic regulations, as well as the provision of future expansion including that of a likelihood of train passage, are other things we have observed.”
He underscored the competency of the Road Authority which embraces technology as well as a content team that is capable of undertaking maintenance, repairs and future planned constructions.
Momodu further highlighted that technology plays a vital role such as design softwares as they birth what one can see on the ground.
Denis Moinina Sandy, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Works and Transport and Public Assets said Namibia “has masterpiece roads, that is why we are here to come and learn and see where we can improve”.
“We went as far as Okahandja where we saw the bridges being constructed with state-of-art technology, which makes one feel safe when driving. Therefore what we have seen here, including road network planning, are things we are going to replicate,” Sandy added.
Meanwhile, his Namibian counterpart John Mutorwa emphasised the importance of South-South learning for African countries, arguing that shared experiences make strategies more relevant than those borrowed from foreign contexts.
“Some foreign benchmarking works, while some don’t, thus it is important to first learn from your fellow Africans because you can relate,” he said.
Part of the delegation, Abdull Koroma, who is the Chief Administrator for the Southern Region, said it was valuable to learn that Namibia does its bulk work in trenches which allows it an advantage to complete projects despite limited funding.
“For us, we undertake the whole bulk work, however midway we face challenges as resources get depleted, hence we shall look at addressing smaller portions in accordance with available resources,” he said.
Road Authority Executive Engineer Rauna Hanghuwo said RA will be willing to undertake pilot studies with Sierra Leone.
