Works on the Mongu-Kalabo road to resume
File:Chinese AVIC International at the construction site at the Mongu - Kalabo road
Works on the Mongu-Kalabo road will resume when the water levels in the plain subsides.
Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Zhou Yuxiao said the road is in a low-lying area which makes it very difficult to do construction works.
Mr Yuxiao said in an interview that the Chinese government is eager to see the road constructed as it will open up the western part of Zambia to trade and other economic activity.
“I am as anxious as everyone to see the road constructed but this is a special road which requires attention. The construction of the road can only resume once the water levels have completely subsided. Only then can the contractor move back on site,” he said.
He said the contractor should be given time to ensure a good quality road is constructed.
Mr Yuxiao said the PF Government has requested for the construction of various roads and airports in the country and initial studies for the construction of airports are underway.
He said a technical group has been constituted to make recommendations on the request.
“The new government has made requests for China to engage in the construction of roads and airports. The Chinese government responded very quickly by sending a technical group last month to do its initial studies on the matter,” he said.
He said the Chinese government will continue to work closely with Zambia to enhance development.
A Kalabo resident talked to today said there isn’t a lot of water this year and is hopeful road works will resume promptly.
The K1.25 trillion Mongu-Kalabo road project hang in a balance last year when the PF Government decided to review the project to ascertain whether it was the best way of connecting the two districts.
The Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication at the time said if such large amounts of money were to be spent on one project, Government wanted to ensure that the road could stand the test of time and will not need constant repairs.
In 1966 the Government of the Zambia decided to construct a road that would connect the country to the neighbouring countries of Congo DR and Angola
but it was only in 2002 that a contract between Government and Consolidated Contractors Company of Kuwait was signed to construct the 74 kilometre bituminous road between Mongu and Kalabo at a contact sum of US$39.7 million,
However during the 2003/2004 rainy season, high floods were experienced, which caused some sections of the embankment and a number of culverts on the 34 kilometre stretch of the flood plains to be washed away.This led to the Kuwaiti contractor, Consolidated Contracting Company, which had finished the phase of the project at US$25 million, to abandon the project.
File:Road Development Agency managers inspect the Mongu Kalabo road
In 2010 AVIS International Holding Corporation, a Chinese was firm awarded a contract to upgrade Mongu-Kalabo Road at a cost of K1.25 trillion
On average the cost of building a tarred road in the rest of the country is K5 billion per kilometre. The Mongu-Kalabo road, because of the complicated terrain, will cost K60 billion per kilometre.
The distance between Mongu, the provincial capital of Western Province, and Kalabo is a paltry 74 kilometres which in comparison makes distance from Lusaka to Kabwe or Mazabuka longer than the one between Kalabo and Mongu. However it is the district having the shortest distance to Mongu, in Zambia’s Western Province.
The people of Mongu and Kalabo have since time immemorial depended on water transport, mostly canoes and banana boats because what is currently called a road is nothing but a stretch of sand dunes.
The Mongu-Kalabo road will link the two towns to neighbouring Angola and this would open up trade between Zambia and Angola.
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complete this road,since i was born i have been hearing this talk for almost 5 decades. Is it still song without at least ka chorus fye or simply too many composers that the stanza never finish?
Just for show, this project may never see day light.
i would love to see a pic at the luanginga crossing point with a bridge on it…..!
I thought the current administration put a stop on the construction of this road on the basis of some irregularities on the way it was commissioned by the previous MMD govt? Is this another flip flop from pf and a way of trying to quieten the calls of secession by some sectors in the province? Anyway kudos to the RB administration for commissioning and implementing this very important project.
I urge the BAROTSE royal establishment to keep pressing for session. To buy you back, government will construct the roads and other facilities. Why should a stretch of 340km be taking 10 hours to travel when it could be done within 4 hours just because no one cares about putting a proper road? Next, build the Senanga-Shangombo Rd. My motherland has to be openned up as well!
@ Happy, its actually 34 km stretch and not 340km… I’m guessing it was a typo on your part but I thought to clarify for those who don’t know.
Bloggers, in pic 2, I cannot see any road that is being inspected. Is it a practical case of 100% in the pocket by the Zambian MMD/PF/UNIP counterpart?
Mongu-Kalabo road?
Uugh, this road, will it ever be constructed? I can recall surveyors carrying out their functions with the view of having the road constructed passing through Senanga. That was 1975. Trees were cut and grass cleared to pave way for the road. Now 2012 we are still talking about the same thing; i wonder. Does anyone take stock of the funds that go in these projects which never get completed. I feel we need to be serious this time. The tax payer has suffered enough.
You need prayer.
Wait for the rains to stop and waters drain away then PF will do the anticipated thing, the construction of the Mongu-Kalabo road. KK did not come to steal he meant development, he was only let down by his commitment to liberation wars that squandered our resources. Chiluba, Mwanawasa and Banda had their very serious short-comings. Sata will deliver that road. He is real on development as KK initially was. If only corruption is fought, countrymen and women support him and resources are committed to real national development we expect hope of true developmental strides under Sata. Posterity will surely tell.
Totally agree with no. 4. These guys are too embarrassed to agree that RB meant well by commissioning this project. Only ABC is courageous enough to acknowledge things that RB left as being sensible. You can say all you like about RB, he was an achiever of repute. History shall be kind to the old man. Bumper harvests and paying farmers on time, low inflation, construction of schools, hospitals, mobile hospitals (pf are using them now), B+ rating, completion of Levy’s projects, etc etc. The killing of the Mongu rioters tarnished his image, but maybe we need to hear him explain himself on why those unfortunate and sad killings took place. He delivered on his promises. The Chinese were supposed to be chased, but today they are darlings. Am I missing something here?
The only thing missing is that life goes on. We have to move forward and not stop to pick up daisies or pin medals on the past. This is now. I’m not sure I care who did what but do care things get done. Properly. The current legacy left by those before requires work by those who come after. Period.
This is very strange indeed. The contract was cancelled by the Zambian government but is being reinstated by the Chinese Government. Can we have an explanation from our government please? Who is going to bear the additional costs of the contractor’s re-mobilisation and the lost time while the contract was ‘cancelled’. I believe now the PF-government messed up in some of their decisions and are trying to find a way of quietly repairing the damage they caused.
@Ricky Bobby?, great observation. Things do not add up at all.
Fun indeed… the cancellation was announced by the Zambian govt but the resumption is being announced by the Chinese Govt… wtf?
PF govt mouth-piece The Times have tried every propaganda out of the manual to shoot down the Barotseland 1964 issue only for every attempt to boomerang in their face like an Aboriginal weapon. They tried Treason intimidation; putting words in the Ngambela; Nkoya/Kafue; etc to no avail.
Now they are trying positive development, abruptly changing policy… no doubt thy have been reading blogs comments. This is a good move and they may buy their way out with this quagmire.
The Chinese knows linking Zambia and Angola is in their best interest to link their economic interests in the 2 nations. Angola coast will be cheaper and shorter.
Construction of a mere road an intimidation of your tribesmen?Guys try and think out of your caves please .This is 21 Century Zambia .
The project does not inspire me. Why spend such a huge sum of money on a 74km stretch in a floaed plain which has no ihabitnts. K1.25Trillion could do wonder if well utilsed in Western province. A canal would have done better and the balance used for other developmental projects. Projects should be community driven. The money could better be spent on building two general hospitals, high schools and a Tehnical College and medium and low housing units in Kalabo, Sikongo, Shangombo Lukulu and Mongu itself including a Rice growing project. Lao not forget restocking the fisheries indusry in Western Province.The projecy may look fantastic I wonder if people of Western Province are going to feed on the road. Time and again people of Western Province have been compalining of neglect and high pover
#3, Survivor, The road does not pass over the Lwanginga, but over the Zambezi, from Lealui to Tapo. There is a new, good solid pontoon (ferry) on the Zambezi though.
Wont the road be washed away again? Please some one shed some light.
# 5 the road is not even 340km, its just 72km
Am just glad, although i knew it that this Barotse nonsense was just a hoax by some political and social failures who have reached high levels of erectal dysfunction and want to drag young Lozis into despair and misery.Now these are the issues we should be talking about,Mongu Kalabo road,beef industry in Western province and Kuomboka as another wonder of Zambia.If roads can be built in desert countries like Sudan,Libya and middle East,how special is the Kalahari sands of Kalabo?
Gymnastics. We need the Lookloo road as well. Come to think of it, the Mankya – Sesheks and Mongu lookloo while we are at it. These should pacify the Barotse to sing the Nkoya song and collect K100 million along the way. Barotseland is not for sale, but genuine, consultative development
@Bwana Mkubwa, those are nice developmental projects. However, you have to understand that those developmental projects will count for nothing if Kalabo is isolated and cut from the rest of the country. You need fast moving transport to reach your customers for ‘rice’, ‘fish’ and all those other things you cite. Unless the hospital is the state-of-the-art projects with modern equipments, some patients would need to be evacuated to Mongu and/or LSK as quick as possible. Houses & schools yes those are stand-alone.
@Pippa, please don’t comment on things that are beyond your scope. This road has been political from time immemorial… not sure how old you are, but every politician has used it to campaign and get votes from Mongu/Kalabo. PF cancelled the project.
The road should go via Lukulu from Mongu onwards to Kalabo not over the Zambezi, at least not now. If all resources were spent on the Mongu -Lukulu- Kalabo road, the project would have finished a long time ago.
It is better to have a long route from Mongu to Kalabo via Lukulu than not having anything at all.
Some people are just stubborn for nothing. Or is not fear that taking the road via Lukulu would see Lukulu get more developed than Mongu?
And that because Lukulu forms what would be part of Kafue Province?
Let us get the cheapest and most reliable route which is the Mongu – Lukulu – Kalabo road.
The Chinese can finish this project in record time.
We need this road for the region as part of the developmental agenda.
You are certainly a geographically challenged id.io.t! Go back to school st.u.pid inbreed.
Mr Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication,what is happening to kitwe chingola roads.with the tax i pay i don’t expect to to be using roads which are very poor.how do we have gravel on a high way like kitwe roads.we deserve better.you cant over take a vehicle especially near chambeshi…..we need action.
nkoya nation, ure a long time stupid and low thinker.
@Litia and Rod
You are just specialists at insults and you have failed to make meaningful contributions to this topic.
We will wait and see what the Chinese can do, if the can build the road over the Zambezi then that should be fine but it they fail then this should be the last time.
Alternative options should be considered to save taxpayers money instead of making this project into a cash cow.
Please fix this road. I visited Kalabo in Aug. 2011 and I am visiting again in Aug.2012.
Why not get a bunch of people together and build the road up yourselves on the sides and flatten the top.
If you want to separate from the rest of Zambia, do so, but you better start now by taking charge and doing things for your selves.
Arrange many volunteer days to help prepare the road for paving. Build it up. flatten out the top and get the Chinese to pour concrete with rebar on the sides to hold it all up.
Ask your King to speak to the Chinese contractors to see if the manpower could help.
Manifest your own Destiny.
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