Local Government Association of Zambia President Charles Mumena has appealed to the Road Development Agency (RDA) to expedite the release of funds meant for the rehabilitation of Township roads through out the Country.
Mr Mumena said despite the RDA appointing Councils as their agents at District Level
in the implementation of road development programmes their was nothing much that had
been done in terms of resources being released to work on these roads which were in
a deplorable state.
Speaking at a press briefing held at the Kitwe Council today Mr Mumena said the
Local Authorities wanted to see action on the ground by ensuring that most of the
roads which were in a deplorable state where worked on under the Accelerated Urban
Road Development Programme being implemented by RDA.
He further said most of the roads in the townships through out the country had not
been worked on in the last 30 years hence the need to work on them immediately.
He added that the RDA had asked the Local Authorities to submit a list of Roads that
they wanted to be worked on in their respective areas and that not much had been
done since then.
Mr Mumena said Councils wanted to see Financial and material support from the RDA to
ensure that their was proper implementation of the Road development programme
through out the Country.
And Mr Mumena has appealed to Government to increase the monthly grants to the Local
Authorities from the current K107 billion to K400 billion in the next budget.
He said it was governments obligation to ensure that these grants were released on
time to ensure that the Local Authorities recovered from the current financial
hurdles that they were in.
He added that the sale of Council houses at a give way price had weakened the
financial capacity for Local Authorities hence the need for more funds to enable
deliver them qual;ity social services to the people.
He commended government for releasing K17.5 billion to the local authorities to help
them improve on their service delivery.
I’ve noticed in Europe, that only highways and busy roads in commercial areas are surfaced with tar, an oil product. The rest, especially roads in residential areas are surfaced with bricks and other strict cement products. This seem to have the effect of hindering speed, which is ideal for residential areas like Chilenje, Avondale, Twapia and the like, townships in general. We are now a major producer of cement in Chilanga and Ndola. Can someone tell me why we are not using the cement based roads as an alternative to the oil based roads in our residential areas? Is it a question of costs? Are our civil engineers using old methods from pre millenium text books that are just pro tar roads?