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Swakopmund - Walvis Bay
Dual carriageway finally a reality
inside
Summer time
Staff Reporter
Namibia’s roads are in the process of being upgraded, constructed and expanded, the Roads Authority (RA) explained at the opening session of the stakeholder engagement sessions with the Road Development Agency of Zambia held at a hotel in Walvis Bay on Tuesday. “We are spending N$3 billion on the upgrading and construction of new roads, including new gravel roads in Namibia,” Conrad Lutombi, CEO of the RA stated when asked to reveal this year’s budget. With the aim of positioning Walvis Bay as the leading trade route in Southern Africa many are seeing the harbour town to be the main portal into, and out of, the Southern African Development Community (SADC). As the completion of the new port of Walvis Bay is planned for mid-2017, the number of heavy trucks on the road is expected to
double. The majority of SADC countries are land-locked and therefore road networks from main portal countries, such as Namibia, Angola, South Africa etc, become increasingly important. “By 2017 we want Namibia to be the logistical hub,” Lutombi proclaimed adding that the objective is in line with the country’s national development goals. The road linking Namibia and Zambia is expected to become especially dominated with heavy vehicles in the not so far future as Zambia is in the process of developing the ‘new
copper smelting plant which will probably be Africa’s largest,’ to the north-western side of the country. “During the construction period we will see a lot of laden trucks travelling through our various borders,” Bernard Chiwala, CEO of the Road Development Agency in Zambia, said.“When the construction period is over, we are going to see a lot of mineral exports from our country through Namibia.” Currently about 1 000 laden (fully loaded) trucks are recorded on a monthly basis at the Kazungula border village, lying on the north bank
Remember to set your clock one hour forward on Sunday
Tender training
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Mass housing MAPPING THE FUTURE: Mr Bernard Chiwala, CEO of the Road Development Agency in Zambia (left) and Mr Conrad Lutombi, CEO of the Roads Authority of the Zambezi River, Chiwala explained. “Over an annual basis this translates to over 12 000 laden trucks on the road travelling between Zambia, Namibia and Botswana.” These figures do not include
empty and small vehicles. According to the SADC protocol on transport, communications and meteorology member states need to implement harmonised permissible
axle loads, gross vehicle mass and gross combination mass limitations to balance the financial needs and interests in preserving the region’s road infrastructure and safety. The aim of the meeting between Continues on page 2
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Makiti Bar CD
Kidnapping case continues Madelaine Laubscher
Four Walvis Bay residents, charged with kidnapping and assault, appeared in the Magistrates’ Court of Walvis Bay yesterday and one of the accused, Sandra Riobo (18) was granted N$2 000 bail.
Family members who showed their support at yesterdays trial, being interviewed
The other three Curven Nathan Vries (21), Ashley Januarie (20) and Logan Pretorius (25) remained in custody. The four were arrested over the weekend for kidnapping and assaulting three male minors. They were denied bail at their first court appearance
on Monday. Yesterday Riobo was released on condition that she does not make contact with any of the accused and must attend today’s court hearing. According to Judge Matulich he hopes to finalise the case today.
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Medals galore
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