About K200 million worth of steel bridge components bought from China by government to construct 30 bridges in Mongu were last week damaged when fire swept through the store room.
The fire which swept through the Consolidated Construction Company (CCC) camp on Thursday night damaged the equipment after a security guard allegedly attempted to harvest honey near the store room.
Works and Supply Permanent Secretary, Bizwayo Nkunika who toured the CCC Camp expressed sadness at the development.
Government through the Road Development Agency (RDA), acquired the steel bridge components at K53 billion for the construction of bridges in the flood plains on the Mongu-Kalabo road.
CCC was commissioned by government to undertake works on the Mongu-Kalabo road in 2002 and has since left and handed over the camp to government through the office of the Permanent Secretary (PS) in Western Province.
Colonel Nkunika said the steel bridge components were very expensive adding that it was unfortunate that some of them got burnt.
He said a technical committee would be constituted to launch an inquiry into the matter.
Colonel Nkunika said once launched, the inquiry will help government safeguard the equipment in future and also assist in knowing who is responsible for the fire.
Meanwhile, RDA Board Chairperson, Walusiku Lisulo said such an accident should not be allowed to re-occur.
Mr Lisulo further called for increased and enhanced security at the CCC camp in order to avoid similar accidents in future.
The security guard who allegedly started the fire was currently in police custody pending investigations in the matter.
ZANIS
Thankyou God we r stil kicking. Wen is Plot 1 going to b on fire? Umulilo ulasala? Pa Zed.
Yangwe ubuchi bwalenga umulilo
Yangu malonda uyu ukutemwa kwabuchi kwalenga umulilo,yaku
Mongu – kalabo road is a cash cow / a waste of state money. The obessesion by some quarters of the country to see a road built on desert sand between Mongu and kalabo is a waste of state money and it will take years to achieve (if at all anything can be built). An alternative road can be built from Mongu via lukulu to kalabo. There are some corrupt elements from western province who are bent on wasting state money in the name of development. Even the rich arabs don’t build roads in certain areas because it can not be done and it just wastes money. The fact that the area also gets flooded everyyear makes it totally not ideal for any construction work. This is corruption, no wonder Zambia is not developing.
Nkunika said technical committee would be constituted to launch an inquiry into the matter. and The security guard who allegedly started the fire was currently in police custody pending investigations in the matter. am I missing something here?
RB is in SWAZILAND and in good health elo tukomfwe mailo ati ikufi lilekalipa we will conclude.
Progress has been dragged behind
so are they telling us that those steel bridge components are nolonger useful or what????
cousins, yu are meant to use them canoes forever… forget about the bridge. unless of course yu do it after 2011!!!! too bad and please get better malondas next time preferably one who is well fed…
How come? material meant for a bridge being burned by fire meant for harvesting honey? awe bane bufi. Even ku Lubemba where we are erronuously labelled serious “maketulas,” we don’t tell such lies. A bridge takes very high tensile steel, with high carbon content and a high coefficient of expansion, let alone a very high anealing and high melting points. I think that someone stole the steel, replaced them withwooden, rubber or plastic replicas and then burned the yard to show that there was a huge fire. Between Mongu and Kalabo there is no dense forest or grass, it is all sand, so where did the fire to melt steel come from? How many times has Society House burnt? did the steel get damaged. If you want someone to do a serious job on that road call the Dutch, iyo bena ni porridge.
For Sure,Steel takes a lot of heat to melt or be damaged.Possibly a smelter will do it.
This road #4 is absolutly right to say that there is a better alternative to building the Mongu/Kalabo road and #10 too,this obstinate plan, to use the Lealui flood plains is a ploy to milk a white elephant project.
Form a commission of inquiry to look for an alternative route and not waste money on investigatiing a poor security guard who meant no malice.
No. 4 u dont no wat u tokn about and dats being selfish…let the pipo of kalabo feel they are part of zed…morova do u no there s ored big trade btn kalabo nd angola????