The young engineers and technicians with (in front from left) Ako Al-Jaf, Manager: Roads Training Technical Unit with InWEnt/RA, Wilfried Brock, Acting CEO of the Roads Authority, Ute König, Deputy Ambassador of Germany, Stefanus Mogotsi, Deputy Minister of Works, Transport and Communications, Tulinane Emvula, Chairman of the RA Board of Directors, and Heinrich Plote, Senior Project Manager: Business Development and Infrastructure at InWEnt.

Mogotsi said during a ceremony in which he handed certificates to the engineers and technicians in Windhoek that they were now much more competent to carry out better construction and maintenance work on Namibia’s roads.
The Roads Authority arranged the training seminar in collaboration with its German development cooperation partner, InWEnt Capacity Building International. Selected lecturers equipped the engineers and technicians with knowledge about a wide range of practical matters they have to deal with in their every day professional life, which they did not obtain through formal courses.
The various modules focused on aspects such as Design, Contract Law, Engineering Materials, the sampling and testing thereof, Project Planning Design and Management, Information Technology in Roads Engineering, Labour-Based Construction and even HIV/AIDS in the workplace.
The students were from the City of Windhoek, Roads Authority, Roads Contractor Company and various engineering consultancies.
The Deputy Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Namibia, Ute König, said Germany has thus far committed about N$1.2 billion as a bilateral agreement with Namibia mainly for the construction and rehabilitation of roads in the northern regions and the Trans Caprivi Highway. It was, however, also important to avail money for capacity building in the roads sector, such as training seminars and programmes which InWEnt support a host.

The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Roads Authority, Mr. Wilfried Brock, said the RA with annual budget of nearly one billion Namibian Dollars had a huge obligation towards the road users, ensuring the highest return on the roads infrastructure investment.
The Roads Authority, which is responsible for the management, construction and maintenance of the national roads network, should ensure that the huge amounts are spent in the most proficient way. In its planning, design, construction and maintenance the RA should eliminate any wastages of capital.