Thursday, March 28, 2024

President Banda confirms the reconnection of the Chirundu-Lusaka Road

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President Rupiah Banda is flanked by State House Chief Analyst for Press and Public Relations Dickson Jere at State House
President Rupiah Banda is flanked by State House Chief Analyst for Press and Public Relations Dickson Jere at State House

President, Rupiah Banda, has confirmed that the Lusaka –Chirundu road that was extensively damaged cutting off the route that connects Zambia to the rest of Southern Africa, has been reconnected.

The damage of the road was caused by heavy rains ,leaving trucks and other vehicles marooned on both sides of the road for long hours.

And President Banda has disclosed that Western, Southern and North-western provinces have been severely affected by the excessive rains in which 15 districts are severely affected.

Mr. Banda told a press briefing at State House today, that government contracted Sable contractors to carryout emergency works to allow the flow of traffic.

He said this followed an on the spot assessment by a team led by Works and Supply minister, Mike Mulongoti and officials from the Road Development Agency, RDA.

He said government through the office of the Vice president’s Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, DMMU, has been monitoring and assessing the impact of the excessive rainfall.

The president, further, said government has since dispatched another team led by deputy minister in the office of the Vice president, Guston Sichilima, Works and Supply deputy minister Mundia Ndalamei, Communication and Transport deputy minister Mubika Mubika and other senior government officials to the three worst hit districts in Western province.

Mr. Banda added that two bailey bridges have been dispatched to Shang’ombo district as part of the efforts to ensure that the area is re-connected to the rest of the country.

He said government has already received 30 more bailey bridges from China for the on-going works on the Kalabo-Mongu road.

He commended Sable Contractors for quickly working round the clock to ensure that the road that connects Zambia to the rest of Southern Africa is re-connected before permanent works are done.

Meanwhile, President Banda has directed the defense forces to mobilize and support the disaster management’s efforts throughout the country.

He has, further, directed them to be on standby as government continues receiving reports on floods from the districts.

The President has assured Zambians that government will continue monitoring the situation and the nation will be kept informed on the developments.

He noted that if the rains continue, it will cause widespread damage to infrastructure in other parts of the country.

In the last few weeks the country has been experiencing unprecedented levels of rainfall, which has led to floods and damage to road and other infrastructure across the country.

Government’s assessment indicates that most parts of the country have been severely affected including Western, Southern and North-western provinces in which 15 districts have been severely affected.

ZANIS/JT/ENDS/SJK

50 COMMENTS

  1. Temporary solutions will not help. Get a contractor who will do a perfect sustainable job. It’s insane that we should be “mending” our roads every rainy season

  2. MMD circus now showing at state house! Mr.President ,last year there were floods,the year before that there were floods, next year there will probably be floods.What are you doing to prevent the disasters we are seeing all over Zambia. Soon people will be crying because there is no water.I advise to to find a way to harness that valuable resource- water. Again you need input from the Zambia engineers prospering in the diaspora.I’m sure they would love to come on a working holiday.Just allow dual citizenship and a lot of us will find it easy to you guys out.

    • If this government can not allow visiting surgeons, from South Africa, once or twice a month to assist the hospitals of complicated cases and help train doctors in Zambian hospitals, but would rather send their associates for treatment there, what does that tell you? This option is cheaper and will treatment more patients than evacuating them abroad. Other governments are also using the diaspora to raise money. This simply means selling treasury bills or government bonds. This country is run by leaders whose minds are entrenched in the past.

  3. Its a lame excuse to blame the weather since weather itself is a parameter that is incorporated in every infrastructural design.I thought the worst flood cases which have a certain return period (which is about 50 years for zambia) are always taken into consideration when designing,so why should mere runoff cause damage?.Its all a reflection of poor preliminary investigations in which hydrological and geotechnical information is neglected. when designing you design for the worst condition.But as for our contractors and consultants,its all business,the consultant would rather produce a quick design ,whilst the contractor compromises on quality to maximise his profit.

    • Zambia has no Passionate Engineers,a few that exists are unethical to an extent that they have totally departed from the faith of the proffesion.Everything is political,polotical,kolotical solotical,lolotical……Damn.
      We really have to do something

    • Thank you Mr Wise fag a*s Man,I know people like beefing with the Ghost but you ain just gat the strength to run miles with me ,cause you are a p*ssy like your mama,remember my words are a deadly Venom,I inject poisonus darts to punch your left lung,and leave you sucking your own dic whilst your daddy fags your a*s.

    • Weak a*s ,fag a*s,bit*h jealousy mutha fukker,am the number one contender,I punch upper cats untill you lose all your stinking yellow teeth in your silly mouth,I blood flood your noise like monthly P’s from your sister’s a*s.

    • Ghost Dog, I could not agree with you more. I have made numerous comments about thesub-standard quality of public infrastructure in Zambia and especially roads. I have been informed that the law does not require a qualified civil engineer to be part of the so called ‘engineering and road works companies in Zambia.’ I do not know about the government roads dept. whether qualified engineers inspect the final product. If they do, they should be shot!

  4. Ba RB why holding the breast or chest I dont know,as if he is trying to feel if his heart is still pumping?

  5. Undertaker am fine.Long time how have you been? Am happy Man unted has started loosing. How i wish we had won,my chelsea lost also but with dignity 1_0 not man untd 2_0.

  6. Is that a President in Mukame pamukoshi??? RB can u dress properly, we now u want to come up with yo own code dress but yabipa baddd!!!!

  7. ba times of Zambia baleti “Mr Kunda said in 2005, Parliament passed legislation to deal with homosexuality and that the minimum sentence for a person found guilty was 15 years.

    “There are people in society who are involved in these acts and some could be lawyers, engineers, journalists and if you have information of others please let us know,” Mr Kunda said”. I wonder whom Veep was refering to? I know one lawyer

    The vice-president said some people were bi-sexual, a scenario he said was well known to the Government.

    “At the end of the day we know them, homosexuality is a bad thing and we should all come together and fight homosexuality,” Mr Kunda said.

    • But it is the VEEP himself, he is a senior lawyer. Akambe bwino. I hope there will be no Task Force that will be knocking on people’s bedrooms to find out who is sleeping with whom and what sort of sex they are engaged in. Imwe bantu, Zambia, as the rest of the world, is faced with a serious economic crisis and we have parley discussing homosexuality?

  8. What’s funny is the fact that the Chirundu border still remains one me the most important revenue collecting point for the ZRA. If this was in europe or asia, we would’ve already seen a railway link to Chirundu.

  9. What’s funny is the fact that the Chirundu border still remains one of the most important revenue collecting points for the ZRA. If this was in europe or asia, we would’ve already seen a railway link to Chirundu.

  10. I think we have a very serious problem of leadership. When there is no rain there is hunger, where there is too much rain there is still going to be hunger. The leadership has failed to harness the use of abundant water, river management, water retention, dam management

  11. Ba Lupiya..this is the time for you to show those of us in the opposition that you are worth even half of the Integrity that your cadres were claiming. Otherwise, summary from most of us is this: “So far so terrible with your performance”. We do NOT need temp solutions … we want permanent solutions to issues

  12. Eastern POWER. Badya again. Chief MMD sponsor gets the tender. putting up a straight face like its transparent. We need an OBAMA in Zambia. Lord Bless Africa

  13. “In the last few weeks the country has been experiencing unprecedented levels of rainfall, which has led to floods and damage to road and other infrastructure across the country.”

    Of course the downside is that there will be hunger in the nation come May. The excuse will be that the crops have been washed away and Nyama Soya’s children will bring in more GMO. Wafwa Walemana, bakamba.

  14. MEMBE WATCH OUT!!! Mr Kunda said in 2005, Parliament passed legislation to deal with homosexuality and that the minimum sentence for a person found guilty was 15 years.

    “There are people in society who are involved in these acts and some could be lawyers, engineers, journalists and if you have information of others please let us know,” Mr Kunda said.

    The vice-president said some people were bi-sexual, a scenario he said was well known to the Government.

    “At the end of the day we know them, homosexuality is a bad thing and we should all come together and fight homosexuality,” Mr Kunda said.

  15. Does this honestly need to be announced by the president? Seems the man has too little to do or is it too much whisky?

  16. RB, you have demonstrated the desire to take this country forward by building on what the true patriotic son of mother Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa, started. When I witness the development which is going on, I find myself having no reason to call for change in leadership, but to say you deserve another term.

    A passionate appeal to you Mr President, when you win the Sept. 20th elections, please don’t betray us by put on hold the Movement of Multiple Development (MMD) until 2015.

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