The City of Windhoek said this week that the rehabilitation of some of the city's estimated 750 kilometres of tarred road network badly damaged during the past rainfall season will cost the municipality N$80 million.
Acting CEO, Mujiwa Mayumbelo told the Economist on Wednesday that of this amount, N$13.5 million, which was availed through the city's yearly maintenance budget, was spent to repair potholes while a further N$65 million will be spent on the resealing of the capital's damaged streets.
He said: "The reseal of streets is a separate project, and is done according to a roads assessment completed during the beginning of 2010,where streets were identified for resurfacing/rehabilitation. N$18 million was budgeted during the previous financial year (2010/2011 financial year) and N$25 million is budgeted for this financial year (2011/2012 financial year)."
Mayumbelo said the whole exercise (filing of potholes and resurfacing) was being financed from the city's own pocket.
He, however, added that the rehabilitation project which was expected to be completed by December 2011 before the start of the next rainy season, will now only be completed in the coming years due to a lack of funds.
"Kindly note that the department of transportation requested N$65 million, but only N$43 million could be provided/budgeted for. The said department will do the rest in the years to come, when funds become available," Mayumbelo said.
Namibia received record rainfall this year causing extensive damage to the national road infrastructure estimated to cost N$600 million to repair. Windhoek was thought to have been the hardest hit town in the country and the N$13.5 million spent fixing the capital's potholes, was nearly five times the usual yearly amount the city spends to fix roads damaged by rain.
N$80 Million for City Roads
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