Ongwediva-Ondangwa road plan abandoned ILENI NANDJATOA plan by the Roads Authority to convert the Ongwediva-Ondangwa road into a dual carriageway has been shelved because there are many buildings built close to the main road, a well-placed source told Namibian Sun.
The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the RA cancelled the Ongwediva-Ondangwa plan because compensating the owners of the buildings would be a costly exercise.
According to the source, the authority failed to convince the owners of the buildings to halt construction although their structures are within the prohibited distance from the main road.
RA however confirmed that they are not continuing with the Ongwediva-Omuthiya dual carriageway plan announced by former works minister Erkki Nghimtina three years ago, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Oshakati-Ongwediva dual carriageway.
“We are only going to expand Omuthiya to Onethindi into a dual carriageway. The project will start 15km to Omuthiya from Oshivelo and will follow the current alignment up to Onethindi. From Onethindi it will bypass Ondangwa and Ongwediva in the south and will join the main road after Oshakati. It means we are going to construct a new road, a bypass between Ondangwa and Oshakati,” RA spokesperson Hileni Fillemon said.
Fillemon could neither confirm nor deny that the Ondangwa-Ongwediva dual carriageway plan was cancelled because of too many buildings near the road, but she urged the public to refrain from building structures within the prohibited distances.
According to the source, the RA has been embroiled in a dispute with traditional leaders who are building too close to the main road between Ongwediva and Ondangwa. Some of the builders were issued with letters ordering them to demolish their structures, but they refused and accused the RA of failing to fulfil its legislative role to embark on a public awareness campaign to avoid the current situation.
“It was this dispute that forced RA to cancel the plan to expand the Ongwediva-Ondangwa road because many builders have built their buildings within 100 metres from the main road, which is against the Roads Authority Act,” the source said.
In a meeting with traditional leaders at Omuthiya last month, RA engineering technician Silas Titus Temba was quoted by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology as saying members of the community were informed and cautioned against building within 100 metres from the road between 1993 and 1995. Temba informed the meeting that cuca shops along the Oshivelo-Onethindi road that are within the prohibited 100 metres would be demolished to make way for the road expansion.
“The 1995 that they are talking about is a long time ago. Most of the people who were educated that time are not the ones driving development anymore. The education was supposed to be a continuous exercise,” a source remarked.
Fillemon said the public awareness campaigns carried out between 1993 and 1995 were adequate and this was confirmed by some traditional leaders during the Omuthiya meeting.
The road expansion project was meant to reduce car crashes. The RA said construction work would start as soon as the funds are disbursed by the government.