Walvis Bay taxi drivers petition over bad roads

Taxi drivers in Walvis Bay have demanded that the town’s municipality immediately fix some of the town’s dilapidated roads, charging that the poor roads are damaging vehicles.

According to the aggrieved taxi drivers in a petition handed over to the Walvis Bay Municipality on Tuesday, the main affected roads are Sardine, Volstruis and Nathaniel Maxuilili which are marred with potholes and have become unbearable to drive on.

Reading the petition on their behalf, Onesmus Ndengu requested for the interlocking of the affected roads, as well as the construction of bridges on intersections which are usually affected by rainwater or sewage.

“The conditions of the roads are causing so much damage to vehicles, making them non-roadworthy and as a result they are issued tickets by law enforcers at the town,” Ndengu stressed.

“We, therefore, demand that the municipality in collaboration with the relevant authorities instruct all companies that own trucks to financially contribute to the maintenance of the roads by interlocking all the roads used by the trucks within the town,” he continued.

The group has given the municipality two months to deal with the situation, saying should they fail to do so, traffic officers should also be instructed to discontinue issuing traffic fines.

The taxi drivers also threatened to stage daily demonstrations until the issue is resolved.

Accepting the petition, Walvis Bay Mayor Trevino Forbes expressed that the municipality is making efforts to solve the road infrastructure problems at the town, adding that it has received an N.dollars 200 million offer from the Road Fund Administration to assist in fixing roads.

“The road maintenance has already started as you may have seen some changes with interlocking and we will look at all the intersections that you have mentioned. I receive continuous complaints of the Volstruis Street area because of the sewage and we are aware of the problems and looking at ways to tackle them, although funding is a problem,” the mayor noted.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency