Africa: No Bumpy Rides in Namibia, Africa's Best Ranked Roads Infrastructure

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05-06-2018
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AllAfrica.com
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According to the Global Competitiveness Report, Namibia currently has some of the best quality roads infrastructure globally and the best in Africa. Namibia ranked 31 out of 137 countries, beating economic giants like China at position 42, India at 55 and Italy at position 45.

According to the 2017 - 2018 annual Global Competitiveness Report published by World Economic Forum, Namibia heads the list of African countries in the category of road infrastructure development with an impressive score of 5,2 out of 7. The only other African countries to break the top 50 of the 137 countries are South Africa and Rwanda, who tie at a score of 5 each, followed by Mauritius with a 4,7 score.

The Global Competitiveness Report index tracks the performance of about 140 countries on 12 pillars of competitiveness, including the quality of road infrastructure development. In its 2016/2017 report, Namibia was also ranked highly at position 23 of 138 countries tracked.

Namibia's establishment of its Roads Authority in April 2000 has been a vital step towards its socio-economic development and the advancement of previously neglected areas of the country.

Because of the efforts of the Roads Authority, the reports cites that "Namibia is the only SADC country that has well-developed and functioning corridors such as the Trans-Caprivi Highway, which links Namibia with Zambia, Zimbabwe and DRC; the Trans-Kalahari Highway, which links Namibia with Botswana and South Africa's industrial hub, the province of Gauteng, and the Trans-Kunene Corridor, which links Namibia to Angola and the DRC via the port of Walvis Bay."

Conrad Mutonga Lutombi, CEO of the Namibia Roads Authority, said in a statement, "This accolade is a re-affirmation of the efforts made by the Roads Authority to develop our road infrastructure and to ensure that it is on par with global standards. I would, therefore, like to express our sincere gratitude to our government for the visionary leadership and for continuously making available funds for road infrastructure development."

Expressing his appreciation of the stakeholders that continue to support them, Lutombi said, "We pride ourselves on this important recognition and see it as a measure of not only how far we have come and what we have achieved but also as a re-assurance that we are on the right path in our mission to manage a safe and efficient national road network to support economic growth in line with the National Development Plan, Harambee Prosperity Plan and Vision 2030 objectives."

The Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry committed in a statement to continue rallying support for the government from all constituencies in investing in roads and railway infrastructure. It said that the success in these sectors would transform Namibia into the top logistics hub in the region.