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 08 Sep 2021

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres (660 feet) of the Botswana right bank of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the Commonwealth of Nations. The name of the country is derived from the Namib Desert, the oldest desert in the world.

Namibia has some of the best roads in Africa. The Roads Authority (RA) has confirmed its continued recognition for having the best road infrastructure on the African continent. This is according to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Quality of Road Infrastructure Report for 2019. Namibia's road infrastructure quality remains the best in Africa, as the country scored 5.2 out of 7, outdoing South Africa and Rwanda, which both scored 5.0. Namibia has been scooping the WEF's African road quality award for the past five consecutive years. It has been ranked number 23 globally, surpassing economic giants such as China, India and Italy, which were ranked at 42, 46 and 56.

Namibia has no potholes on its roads and it cut across the country, even untarred roads are smooth. They don’t only have good roads but also side walkways, clean streets, quality beautiful buildings. The government has invested a lot in road infrastructure and they have a dedicated team of road managers. There is a strict performance management system that always seeks to achieve key performance indicators. One advantage of having good roads is that total transportation cost is reduced.

Namibia's success is attributed to two important factors, namely an effective maintenance strategy on existing road infrastructure, which plays a pivotal role in prolonging its lifespan, and the upgrading and construction of new roads, which contribute significantly to the quality of national roads. Since the establishment of the Roads Authority in April 2000, the organisation has continued to play a vital role in the socio-economic development of Namibia, and in particular the advancement of previously neglected areas of our country. The expansion of the road network has already started to bear fruit as many of the communities in Namibia have access to the main centres of the country.

Also, the road network continues to contribute to the economic growth of other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. Namibia is the only SADC country that has well-developed and functioning corridors such as Trans-Caprivi Highway that links Namibia with Zambia, Zimbabwe and DRC, the Trans Kalahari Highway that links Namibia to Botswana and South Africa's industrial hub (Gauteng). The Trans Kunene Corridor links Namibia to Angola and the DRC via the port of Walvis Bay. All these corridors continue to play a pivotal role in the economic development of SADC.

 

SOURCE: BusinessGhana