Transport ministry to construct new Natis centre at Wanaheda

The Ministry of Works and Transport will construct a new Namibian Traffic Information System (Natis) centre in the Wanaheda area of Windhoek. The Wanaheda Natis centre will cater for surrounding areas such as Havana, Goreangab and Hakahana. This is due to congestion at the Windhoek Natis Centre, attributed to an influx of people and the city’s growing population. This was announced by works and transport minister Veikko Nekundi in a ministerial statement on the transformation of Natis services that was read in the National Assembly on Wednesday. “The ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform acquired the land in Wanaheda in close proximity between Hakahana, Goreangab and Havana to develop the new Natis service centre, for our people,” Nekundi said. He said designs are concluded and the appropriate machinery will be on site soon. He added that the normal booking as used by some members of the public will be conducted as usual with a pilot phase set to commence in December. Nekundi also said there will no longer be a written learner’s driving license test using the old method, but tests will now be done using a computer. The same applies with marking, to do away with marking with a pen. This practice, he said, will address associated corruption with the distribution of question papers. “The test will be automatically evaluated and the result will be immediately made available at the click of a button to the person using the computer,” he said. Nekundi also revealed that as of September, the Natis driver population has reached more than 379 000 countrywide and about 140 000 Natis transactions are conducted monthly countrywide, generating revenue of about N$87 million.