CHAMWE KAIRA
Stakeholders recently held a meeting on the Auas Road upgrade. Mary Shiimi, a senior official of the City of Windhoek, disclosed that the Roads Authority is making the project possible through funding.
Richard Laborn of Lithon Project Consultants presented the details of the proposed Auas Road upgrade and said road will be a dual carriageway with intersections, that will also have upgraded.
Information presented at the meeting showed that there will be two lanes out (southbound) and two lanes in (northbound). Two new lanes will be built on the western side of the existing road, which will form the new northbound lanes. A median will separate the two existing lands, to be rehabilitated, which will form the southbound, outgoing lanes. Pedestrian and bicycle lanes will also be built.
Laborn said the investigation is still underway to determine which intersections will receive traffic lights, but he said this will probably be the Arebbusch and Aviation Road intersections and possibly Blackwood Street.
Officials informed the meeting that said the need for the Auas Upgrade is obvious because of traffic congestion along the road. The expected date of commencement is June 2024, and construction is estimated to be 12 months. The new lanes will be constructed first, followed by the rehabilitation of the existing lanes.
Concerns raised during the meeting included concerns about the proposed taxi ranks because taxi’s and minibuses tend to disturb business, reducing safety and tranquility.
The project involves the upgrade of the road to a double carriage way from the Sean McBride intersection to the Mandume Ndemufayo Intersection, with a new taxi rank. The aim of the project is to improve the traffic flow on this portion of road, which is currently congested, especially during peak traffic.
The project will also see the introduction of a new intersection to link Aviation Road and Springbok Road and the introduction of a taxi rank
Major institutions on or near Auas Road include Namcor, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Mercure Hotel (Safari Hotel) and Eros Airport.
According to the Roads Authority Strategic Business Plan 2022/23-2026, the absolute minimum road maintenance requirements have increased from N$ 3,9 billion per annum for routine maintenance, reseal, rehabilitate, re-gravel and update of the national road network.
The RFA is only able to fund N$ 2,8 billion under the business plan, with the inclusion of loan funding.
Therefore, widening the funding shortfall from N$ 1,3 billion to N$ 1,5 billion in the following budget year.
