[ACCI-CAVIE] The minister of works and transport, John Mutorwa, last week commissioned the construction of a traffic circle and a dual carriageway at the intersection of the busy Trans-Zambezi Highway and Eugene Kakukuru Street at Rundu.

The N$34-million road development is aimed at reducing accidents and improving the flow of traffic entering and leaving the town.

Mutorwa said the Roads Authority (RA) is working with the local authority to widen the road into a double lane to decongest traffic flow, in and out of the town, since the town only had one entry road.

“When you enter the town of Rundu from the Ndama informal settlement, the road is too narrow, therefore, the vehicles are congested.

The Roads Authority has contracted China Henan International Cooperation Group, which has already commenced with the widening of the intersection from a single carriage to a dual carriageway for 150 metres into Rundu town,” he said.

The project is being constructed after a memorandum of understanding the RA, Rundu Town Council and the Road Fund Administration signed last year to develop the road network in the town.

The minister said although the parties entered into an agreement, that does not take away the local authority’s responsibility to manage its road network, since the RA’s only mandate is to manage national road networks.

Mutorwa said Namibia has four development corridors, in terms of roads that connect the country to neighbouring countries in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), and by extensions, these roads connect Namibia to other countries in Africa in fulfilment of the integration agenda both at the national level, SADC level and continental level.

He added that the construction of the traffic circle at the intersection links it to the broader picture of road infrastructure development in the country.

The minister also announced the commissioning of phase two of the construction of the Charlie Cutline project in the Mankumpi constituency in the Kavango West region.

RA chief executive officer Conrad Lutombi said the plan to construct a traffic circle along with a dual carriageway on the intersection of the Trans-Zambezi Highway and Eugene Kakukuru Street dates back seven years.

“The intention at first was for us to erect traffic lights, but we realised that with traffic lights the congestion could be even more serious, as you would have traffic passing without turning into town, thus we had to do a proper traffic assessment,”said Lutombi,

He said an assessment of the whole project was carried out, incorporating plans for the town’s development in the next 10 to 15 years.
Work on the traffic circle, which is under construction, is expected to take six months.

Upon completion, Lutombi said, the project is expected to significantly boost the economy of Rundu, as it would promote social and economic growth.

He added that Rundu is experiencing fast growth in residential and industrial infrastructure and that several ongoing residential developments are exerting an unprecedented increase in heavy traffic.