Road maintenance needs N$1.7 billion per year
The Roads Administration Fund (RFA) held their 16th Annual Business Plan consultation meeting for Financial years April 2017/2022 in which it was revealed that Namibia needs an estimated N$ 1.7 billion per year for the rehabilitation and maintenance of roads, however currently the spending is less than the specified amount.
Speaking at the event Ms. Sophie Belete-Tekie, Roads Funds Administration Engineer in Road Management System stated that 60% of rural Namibians do not have access to roads. She detailed in her presentation that the Road Fund Administration collects funds from the country’s Road User Charging System (RUCS) through user charges from fuel levies, vehicle registration and annual licence fees, mass distance charges, cross-border charges and permits, abnormal load fees and domestic road user permits.
RFA CEO, Ali Ipinge explained that the RFA acts as a trustee on behalf road users to ensure that they receive value for their money and that the revenue from Road User Charging System is utilized for their benefit. “In its quest to fulfil its mandate, RFA collected an amount of close to N$ 2.12 billion during the financial year 2015/16. The expenditure or investments made into the road sector for the same period amounted to N$ 1.84 billion. This achievement came as a result of key initiatives and strategies employed by RFA and approved authorities particularly Roads Authority in the past 12 months.” Ipinge said.
Ipinge mentioned that during 2015 and early 2016, the RFA adopted a tight finance management and control strategy. “This strategy has yielded positive results as evidenced from the curtailment of the Fund deficits and negative equity recorded over the past few years. It’s noteworthy to observe that the Fund financial position ended in a positive territory as at end of March 31, 2016 – with a recorded surplus of N$277 million and reduction in accumulated deficit from over N$550 million to a manageable amount of N$66 million. In addition, the Fund managed to have a clean audit for the financial year ended March 2016.” he informed.
It was also announced that the Fund also managed to successfully repay its old loan stock of N$330 million which matured in January 2016. The CEO of RFA explained that the settlement of the debt obligation has freed up much needed cash to fund additional road related maintenance projects. In addition he detailed that through the KfW loan of N$447 million obtained in December 2016, the Fund was able to fully fund its first phase of the Windhoek- Okahandja dual carriageway road project, the first section of this road will be opened for traffic in December 2016.
