Government has described as natural, the washing away of part of the Chirundu-Siavonga by rains.
Works and Supply Minister, Mike Mulongoti, said the contractor of the road, China-Henan, took into consideration all precautionary measures to put up quality works which could not easily be compromised.
Mr. Mulongoti, however, told ZANIS during an on the spot check of the washed away road, some 100 kilometers away from Lusaka, that the disaster was due a weak bottom of the road surface created by rain water.
He has, however, assured motorists that the contractors will put in place measures to strengthen the road base to avoid similar damage in future.
Mr. Mulongoti has, further, assured motorists and the general public that a temporal measure is being worked out by Sable Contractors to sustain the flow of traffic between Lusaka and the two border towns.
Speaking at the same scene, Road Development Agency, Chief Engineer of Maintenance, Robby M’kandawire, said the agency will work hand in hand with the contractor to ensure that the damaged portion of the road is reconstructed.
He said key logistics such as culverts are already on site, to work out a permanent solution while a by pass is being created as a temporal solution for sustaining the flow of traffic.
Siavonga and Chirundu districts were yesterday cut off from the rest of the country when part of the Lusaka Chirundu road was swept away by rains.
ZANIS/CM/ENDS/SJK
This man seems to have an excuse for every failure from our government. Can his words be taken serious?
He is lying. This is an example of tax payers’ money washed away through corrupt Gov officials certifying shoddy performance by a road contractor. As a motorist I saw cheap construction work methods on that road during the construction phase. At one point I differed with the Chinese worker on site over a physical design of the hill drainage system. This simple observation was done by me as a mere motorist – I have been vindicated.
MMD circus now showing along Lusaka – chirundu road. Come on guys admit failure.I believe engineers take into consideration the terrain, climate etc when building roads.Where did the contractors think rain water would drain? Why wasn’t the road base strengthened initially? BENG guys give us input.
he just woke up, he is a goon.lost in confussion.
Nine Chale. Its sad. That chap is defending the undefendable. If he is as blind as he is, he thinks everyone is blind and therefore did not see the road on picture. That road like any othe roads is Zambia is a razor blade. This is why Zambia will never develop. Such men are just good for @@@cclicking.
Ka mike uli mbwalala sana, you think Zambians are stupid or silly? please tell us something sensible and useful. You are corrupt and are a criminal, how would you support such a useless job.
you are right #1! He can’t admit failure….
Is he an expert in this area? how does he know that the bottom of the road is weak…Ka Mulongoti is a very fun person, he seems to have something to say whether premature or not. He need to send engineer to the area to assess what really happened…how can say it is natural for the road to be washed away?
infact he never keeps his mouth shut. we are not interested in his verbative speeches
Mulongoti can never be taken serious
Ha ha ha ha!
Zambian road makers have always swindled the government. The asphalt on our major roads is what one sees on a private drive way in other countries. Inspite of sanctions Zimbabwean roads are better. Zambian civil engineers are a let down. Somebody has been pocketing the change/
The saint, it is not Zambian Civil engineers that are to blame (after all the contractor is Chinese!). The Zambian Govt. does not even consider the thoughts of Zambian Civil Engineers in these works. After all look at who is making the comment in this article … Mulongoti!!! Does he even know the constituent layers that make a road?
You are positively right thinker. Civil Engineers never even see a contract document. Tuma pipe boys utucita endorse razor blade roads. If you ve been on Tuta road Serenje/Samfya, you will know how un caring our politicians are. The road was built by a chinaman and it is so poor. But, the contract again was signed off by KK. No civil engineer accompanied Kaunda to china apart from the Husseins and VJs of this zambia. Go to china-come and cut my finger if you are ever going to find a road such as those in zambia. Compare Cairo Rd to any post independence Rds. An English mans road (Cairo rd) is still with no serious cracks if any.
I tell you Mulongoti is not saying the truth, how did he determine that in the first place because he is not an engineer besides, the road just got washed away. This purely tells you how our politicians cannot be trusted in Zambia. its a big shame! I think at times our leaders should learn to tell the truth. because people are educated and are able to differitiate between facts and lies.
I don’t how this man manages to annoy me every time he opens his mouth. If that company he is defending had done their home work they would have know about the rains.
Mike Mulongoti – did you ever see the road? It was clear from when it was first done it was a very poor job. You could see the surface cracking up and the ground beneath it in places right from when it was done. How can you defend this work? There are two possibilities. Either you are totally incompetent and you should resign, or, you are covering up for the company that did it and you probably got a cut of the money they didn’t spend on the road – again resign. It is this type of situation that makes the rest of the world think we in Africa are uneducated and stupid or just corrupt.
How is the washing away of a tarmacked road ‘natural’? The work done was obviously shoddy.
Citizen. all the roads in the UK would have been washed away if it were natural the rains to wash away the roads. Its plain CTUPID.
That was what I thought as well when I posted that comment, but folks at home (who are not Mulungoti supporters by the way), say it was natural…. the rains are crazily heavy this year, and it was the earth which washed away, carrying the road with it.
Please government ministers, lets do adquate examination before we can say anything. Mr. Mulongoti, when did you conduct a survey to confirm that the road was thoroughly constructed. This is a big shame Mr. Mulongoti. How can a well constructed road be swept away. Shame!!! A wise leader is quick to listen and slow to speak. Consider all other avenues and exhaust all investigations before you can make such unfounded statements.
Mr. Mulongoti, you are not an engineer for goodness sake and secondly, remember that you are not dealing with babies. Many Zambians have been to school, better mind what you say. Try to analyse issues before you jump the gun.
Its sad that Banda continues to employ liars like Ka mulongoti, mulongoti is by nature a liar,i guess he was hired by Banda for his good perfomance of lying to the zedian people during LPMs sickness, no one for sure can believe what comes out from that ka guy,keep quite mulongoti,you make us sick whenever you open that ka mulomo of yours
ka pipe boy and RB are fowls of identical plummage.
You cant call such damage to the road as natural. Earth quakes are natural.This is gross negligence. Feasible geographical maintenance need to be done frequently in anticipation to heavy rain after effects and prevent these effects before hand. Some one needs to crack their brain and do the right thing. We have the great Ocean Road here which has similar geographical paths, which are highly maintained and such cases are rare indeed. Those heavy trucks should be weighed too and levied accordingly in order to help maintain these roads financially.
Chinese stuff is very well known by most majority as poor very poor quality so the construction work done by the Chinese contractor is no surprise to anyone.this is a total loss of tax payers money.the tax payers must take them to task to get their money back.The Japanese could have done 100% better if they were given the contract.TheZambian Govt in future should not engage the chinese to do any infrastructure work in Zambia.Once bitten twice shy.Come on Chinese be honest,The Zambian people are not that foolish as they might think,They should be taught that Zambian people are much clever and should not try to fool us around.The whole episode is just disgusting..Mehboob
This road was worked on only a few years ago, if not less than three years ago. How natural can it’s washing away be if not poor workmanship? Michael a.k.a Mike Mulongoti, we are not children please.
The is gross negligence on both sides – the contractor and RDA. Those involved should be suspended and charged forthwith. We cant be spending tax payers monies carelessly! The road was poorly compacted and drainge work was ignored. It is high time started charging civil servants and contractors for negligence. How many projects have siphoned tax payers monies without completion? I wonder if that portion has a guarantee? Zambia lets get serious
Blame it on the rain. Ingenious. Sir, nature can be tamed or harnessed. The government should have included that in the contractor’s original terms of reference. What’s the point of having ‘contractors … put in place measures … to avoid similar damage in future’ if no responsibility is taken for what happens in the present. If the contractor ‘took into consideration all precautionary measures’ this would not have happened. Plus, you need to distinguish between road construction and road maintenance. The lack of a robust policy for allocation of risk in public procurement means the taxpayer bears the cost of incompetence in the provision of public works and services. This is…
the design was nt ok its a slip failure
Its possible, the washing away could be natural.Runoff can be destructive
Yes, that’s what I’ve been told as well by people more versed in these matters than me. I commented above before seeing pictures of the damage or asking anyone else about it, so Mulungoti’s statement seemed off then.
Such types of road failures are due to lack of geotechnical surveys.That place is hilly and the ground basically has slip planes,which can result into slip failures.The water flow just basically sheared the top plane on which the road was constructed.The contractor should have made adequate investigations of the possibilities of shear planes in the ground.So Mr Minister please ,that is purely a design failure because Geotechnics is part of design,its not an act of God like an earthquake,China henan must have done their home work.
Welcome BACK ba Ghost D,
Thankyou,its good to know that you care
That is possibly true
This man says we shouldnt blame them because failure was due to a weak bottom,does he not know that the bottom of the road called the subgrade is part of the road, he,and the design rules are that it should be compacted to at least 95% as per AASHTO requirement.The roads agency who happens to be the Engineers have a big problem supervising works,they lack self motivated Engineers who can delight in finished works.I strongly believe this failure could have been prevented.
Welcome back Ghost Dog and I am also impressed by your ammount of knowledge in this area. Are you doing civil engineering? I know that there are a lot of Zambians with more than enough skill and visiualization ability than Mr. Mulongoti on how to solve such problems without breathing too hard. You sound like one of them. I hope you continue to grace this site with more technical analysis.
Thanks Brother Man,you made me come back,I think our family is here
the government is only defending the company because it is chinease, and the fact that china is promising loans has made them cower and not really stand up and demand that the work be of the highest quality. what a pathetic government we have
How on earth does Zambia find itself with such a calibre of Ministers? Mulongoti being a minister is really a scandal. The guy has very little education and completely devoid of any developmental ideas and you entrust him with such a Ministry. What a shame?
Its called the Zambian dream.
Thanx Fulham for whitewashing Manchester United
MULONGOTI IS A SERIOUS JOKER. 1 DOES NOT NEED ANY INSTRUMENT TO SEE HOW POOR THAT ROAD IS. IMWE GUYS NAMUBELELA UBUFI NO BUPUBA. WE CAN SEE IT BY OUR OWN EYES WHO ARE YOU F@@L!!NG? Road iyo ka razor blade. AND ITS ONLY FIT FOR YOUR HOUSE DRIVEWAY. NOT MOTORWAY. YOU CHAPS BE SERIOUS. BOTSWANA IS VERY NEAR TO LEARN FROM. GO AND EXAMINE THEIR ROAD. THEIR TARMAK ROADS ARE 30cm deep, excluding the underlay of concrete. You a bunch of joking politicians.
I totally agree with your posting. Bostwana is a very good example on roadworthy maintenance.You feel proud driving on those roads.
1st: poor compaction is said to be okay, 2nd: a razor thickness is said to be no problem with this so called mike and his friends. Do you guys really understand the minds of our ministers? I believe that if these RBs ministers were judicial judges, all chinese people would become angels together with the likes of the Ronnie Shikapwasha. I mean for him to say “the Govt is shocked that people can’t see any corruption in Magende”. THEY WILL NEVER BE ON THE SIDE OF THE PEOPLE!!!!! BET ON ME.
Pictures never lie. The pic in yesterday’s edition was very clear. The contractor just compacted the soil and laid tarmac on it. Its a pity we have goons for Ministers who live by lies eveyday. 2011 is coming Imwe bane. By the way where is the article on VPs message on Senior Reporters being Gay. I enjoyed it.
How can this man defend the contructors for the sub-standard work they did on zambia’s most prominent road (chirundu), instead of our govn to start talking on how they are going to punish this constructor for indangering lives of our people, they in the forfront protecting the *****s…….finshi ka Mulongoti kaishiba about road to start giving his stupid advise? The world bank gave those Chinese x-convicts a lot of billions to do quality work and that money is going to be paid back by zambian not chinese…….this sucks mwee…kandeya fye kumatebeto, i think i need same energy this morning.
AM sick and tired of this Chinese syndrome eating in our country, nothing good will we ever get from china. Chinese mines have the worst accidents in the world, all in the name of cheap, cheap is expensive, Chinese are known to corrupt whole government systems in the world to gain their way, the corrupter. that road is a victim of cheap shoddy work, billions where spent, again we spend billions to the same contractor? gentlemen we need to be serious, can we partner with southafrica/ German train Zambians deliberately empower them with these billions to build our roads, at list that way the money stays in the country.