The Roads Authority (RA) will undertake a feasibility study on the condition of the Okahandja-Otjiwarongo road.

According to Sydney Boois, who is the Transportation Executive at the RA, the study is to determine the technical, economic, environmental, and social viability of the B1 road's preservation.

Otjozondjupa was identified as one of the regions with the highest statistics of road carnage in the country.

RA Transportation Executive Officer Sidney Boois explains that the study is also intended to investigate road preservation in terms of rehabilitation and road safety improvements.

"We are happy as the Roads Authority to state that we are undertaking a feasibility study to investigate road preservation for the Okahandja-Otjiwarongo Road. Knowing the issues with road crashes on that road, the issue has been brewing for some time. So the feasibility study will tell us what road improvements we will undertake, whether it is a 2+1 road, passing lanes, or a full dual carriageway, as the study will tell us. As a result, we are focusing more on designs that already include safety enhancements."

The feasibility study comes in the wake of Otjozondjupa Governor James Uerikua's call for the B1 road in the region to be upgraded.

In his State of the Region Address, Uerikua revealed that during the 2021/22 financial year, the region recorded more than 7,000 fines, amounting to about N$5.8 million.

150 people were arrested for drunk driving, and 52 accidents were reported.

Another 460 people were arrested for other traffic offenses.

Uerikua called for the holding of a road traffic symposium to look into the foundational causes of road accidents and suggest interventions to defeat road deaths and transgressions.