The completed low-volume seal road infrastructure at Impalila Island, Zambezi Region, is likely to be inaugurated in April.
The construction of the N$60 million, 25-kilometre project as well as the upgrading of a loading port, which started in 2022, will be completed by the end of March.
During a site visit to the island on Thursday, Roads Authority CEO Conrad Lutombi said road-surfacing has been completed and road markings are now being completed, while signage is also completed.
“We have requested, through the office of Zambezi Governor Lawrence Sampofu, to liaise with the communities to identify three names after which the three roads on the island can be named. It will be good for the community to pay recognition to people from the island,” says Lutombi.
Lutombi also says the constriction project was very complicated, especially when it came to the sourcing of materials.
“We were buying the crushed stone from Zambia, crossing to Namibia, from Namibia to Botswana, and back to Namibia. And in all this, we were paying quite exorbitant cross-border charges, and also, when it came to fuel, Botswana was not allowing us to buy fuel from Namibia, so we had to buy fuel in Kasane in Botswana, which is quite expensive if you consider the Botswana-Namibia dollar exchange rate. So this put a bit of pressure on us in terms of funding, but we are happy that we are now nearing completion of the project, and we hope that by the first week of April or sometime in mid-April, we will be officially opening the project.”
Some of the newly constructed roads in Impalila run parallel with the Chobe River, and some of the areas along which the road runs are quite high. And riparian residents depend on the river for their sustenance, while large livestock also drink at the river.
“And that's why we have made provision for big culverts for the people to cross when they go to fetch water and even the livestock. We have made provision for this kind of opening so that they don't have to go on top.”
Lutombi concluded by saying the only thing left, as part of the road construction project, is the construction of a docking jetty for ferries.
“And we will need to have a specialised contractor, not necessarily the contractor who is on site now.”
Impalila has a population of about 5,000 people.