By: Hertha Ekandjo

It took the Omuthiya Town Council 11 years to construct two tarred roads of a total distance of 2.4 kilometres, at the total cost of approximately N$8 million.

This was stated by the town’s mayor Johannes Ndeutapo during a meeting with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Housing and Infrastructure, last week.

“Only two recently constructed B2 roads within the town, one on your way to Onanke which is just a 1.3 kilometres road and another 1.1 kilometre road within the northern side of the town,” Ndeutapo said.

He cited lack of funding from the central government for the development of the town.

“If something is less than 1%, then I don’t think it is significant. Those roads that I mentioned have been constructed at a total cost of about N$8 million over a period of 11 years. That will bring you to about less than a million a year,” he clarified.

Omuthiya is the capital of the Oshikoto region and has about 5,000 residents.

“Omuthiya is a new town and it doesn’t have much infrastructure, and I must state that to the Standing Committee as lawmakers that this is a serious challenge to Omuthiya as a new town. There isn’t and there wasn’t any existing infrastructure before the town was proclaimed,” the Mayor clarified.

Ndeutapo further stated that Omuthiya has been proclaimed as a regional capital, but the Town Council, he says, has no specific deliberate expenditure to develop the town.

He stated that there has not been government funding to ensure that there is adequate infrastructure within the town to be able to cater and bring services closer to the people.

And added: “One understands the rationale behind proclaiming Omuthiya as a town, and moreover as a regional capital, it is in the centre of a seriously under-developed region.”

Ndeutapo questioned as to when they should expect the town to develop and have infrastructures if they can only spend N$8 million over 11 years on road infrastructure.

Oshikoto region is vast, and over 85% of its land is rural. But the region only has one road that is fully tarred, the B1 which  is a national highway of the Namibia, and is the country’s longest and most significant road, running the length of the country from south to north..

This poses a challenge to the region’s inhabitants who live in rural areas as they struggle to reach various services.

Officials at the Regional Council told the Committee that the region has a lot of roads declared but only few have been gravelled.

Those that have been gravelled are however in a bad state as they have not been maintained or upgraded for over 20 years.

Officials explained that the Regional Council has no capacity to upgrade the roads as it does not get enough funding support from central government and responsible stakeholders responsible for roads.

The Committee is visiting Oshikoto, Omusati, Ohangwena and Kavango West regions to assess the status of roads.