Dual carriageways for Otjiwarongo routes still years away

Motorists travelling on some of Otjozondjupa’s busiest and accident-prone roads could wait years for dual carriageways, with government saying the upgrades are unlikely to happen within the next three to five years.

Works and transport minister Veikko Nekundi told Namibian Sun last week that high accident rates on the Okahandja–Otjiwarongo, Otjiwarongo–Otavi and Otjiwarongo–Omaruru routes have cost lives and led to many injuries.

He said government’s immediate response would be to introduce smart-road infrastructure on the corridors, rather than proceed with dual-carriageway construction.

“We are cognisant of the higher number of road accidents on this road network,” Nekundi said.

He said the Usakos–Swakopmund smart road is expected to go live by the end of September or early October, after which the Okahandja–Otjiwarongo, Otjiwarongo–Otavi and Otjiwarongo–Omaruru stretches would be next in line.

“We are about to finalise the Karibib–Usakos,” Nekundi said.

The minister said government ultimately intends to expand the roads to dual carriageway standard, but economic constraints and competing national priorities make that an impossible goal for the immediate future.

“Unfortunately, we will not be able to do that in the next three, four, five years,” he confirmed.

The scale of the funding challenge is reflected in Roads Authority estimates. The authority's long-term corridor upgrade programme estimates that a full dual carriageway would cost about N$27.1 billion for the 173-kilometre Okahandja–Otjiwarongo section and N$18.5 billion for Otjiwarongo–Otavi. The 132-kilometre Omaruru–Otjiwarongo corridor is estimated at N$20.6 billion for a dual carriageway.

Together, the three projects would require an estimated N$66.2 billion for full dual carriageway upgrades.

National priorities

The funding challenge comes as Otjozondjupa continues to record a high number of crashes. MVA Fund figures showed that the region recorded 130 crashes between 1 January and 21 June, the third-highest regional total after Khomas and Erongo during that period.

Nekundi said government had several other road infrastructure demands, including upgrading gravel roads to bitumen standard and improving access in regions such as Kunene, Kavango East and Kavango West.

He said the government’s immediate priority for a dual-carriageway upgrade would instead be the Usakos–Swakopmund road, following the completion of the Karibib–Usakos section.

The Roads Authority has previously placed the Okahandja–Otjiwarongo corridor on its long-term upgrade programme, with design work expected to start in 2027.

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