The Low Volume Sealed Road Strategy (LVSRS) – government’s latest cost saving strategy to upgrade highly trafficked Namibian gravel roads, is on course to rehabilitate at least 220km of the national road network at estimated cost savings of up to 25%, Business Express understands.
Being implemented by the Roads Authority (RA) in collaboration with the Road Fund Administration (RFA), the strategy has initially rolled out ten road projects at an estimated cost of over N$273 million with some having already been completed.
The LVRSS is an alternative maintenance strategy to optimize the available funding by doing more road maintenance work with limited financial resources. Upgrading roads to Low Volume Seal standards has wide-ranging benefits, which include, an increase in road user satisfaction and reduction of vehicle maintenance costs, reduction in dust emissions, improved road safety, access to communities and improved vehicle/driver efficiency that reduces fuel costs.
Some of the key projects under this strategy include the Impalila Island access roads in the Zambezi Region, Okatana to Onamutayi in Oshana Region, Tsandi to Onguluwombashe, Aminius in the Omaheke Region, Du Plessis Farm – Epukiro in the Omaheke Region, Nkurenkuru to Nepara Clinic in the Kavango West Region, Rooidag Gate in Otjozondjupa and Tsandi-Onesi-Epalela in the Omusati Region among others.
“On the operational side, we continued to focus on ensuring that our contribution towards national development remains dominant in the market. As our story of successfully innovating in the roads sector gains momentum, together with the RA, we launched the Low Volume Seal Strategy to upgrade highly trafficked gravel roads to Low Volume Seal standards which has resulted in cost saving of about 25% in comparison to standard Bitumen roads,” affirms RFA CEO, Ali Ipinge in the company’s latest annual report released late last year.
The report also makes mention of the fact that on the projects that on the ten projects reported in that reporting period, a total of 438 skilled and unskilled labour were employed on the on-going LVS projects of which 95.4% are Namibians.
The Road Fund designed the LVRSS in October 2020 due to the increasing funding gap, as well as serious challenges due to inadequate maintenance, rapid deterioration of the gravel road network, depletion of available gravel material, and the high cost of gravel road upgrading, amongst others. The main objective of the LVRSS is to improve the level of service on gravel roads to the road users, resulting in reduced vehicle operating costs and time savings. The overall maintenance demand is also reduced leading to cost savings in several routine maintenance activities.
“Due to budgetary constraints, it has become a serious challenge to adequately maintain the gravel road network. Consequently, the road network is in poor condition and continuously deteriorating. Indications are that if we do not act promptly, the situation will deteriorate to a point where 75% of the gravel road network is projected to be in a poor-to-very poor condition by 2025,” explained Ipinge last year.
FUNDING
Notably, the RFA secured debt financing of N$350 million to support this strategy, of which N$150 million has been made available in the 2022 financial year while the remainder is for this current financial period.
According to Nedbank which provided financing for the project, current estimates indicate that Namibia should upgrade 315km to LVSR per year for N$923 million per year.
“The funding agreement with the RFA illustrates our commitment to playing our part in seeing the Namibian economy grow. Good roads play a crucial role in overall economic development. At Nedbank Namibia, we do not doubt that the -loan will add value to the transport sector in the country and further stimulate economic activities in other secondary and tertiary sectors,” said Nedbank Namibia Managing Director, Martha Murorua said at the time.
CHALLENGES
Business Express understands that the projects under this strategy have had a fair deal of challenges, most of which have been effectively mitigated.
Some of the challenges experienced in the execution of the projects, amongst others include the accessibility to the sites for the delivery of construction material due to the remoteness and poor gravel road conditions. Above average rainfall was received over most parts of the country in the past rainy season, disrupting the progress of the works. Furthermore, sourcing of borrowed material from owners of the land remained contentious; and the high prices of bituminous products and steel required the variations in contract prices.
“Despite these challenges, the project progressed positively and looks to continue adding value for the road network,” Authorities have said.