Deputy Minister in the Vice President’s Office Daniel Munkombwe has said Government is worried about the damaged bridges and culverts along Maamba/ Batoka road in Southern Province and called for urgent need to repair the structure.
Mr. Munkombwe said when he toured the damaged makeshift bridge at Sikalamba stream in Sinazongwe district that the contractor had been engaged to repair the damaged portion of the bridge in two days.
ZANIS reports that he said currently the bridge was only allowing small vehicles to pass through.
The Deputy Minister said it was sad that a truck for World Vision Zambia laden with relief food for the vulnerable people in Sinazongwe returned as it failed to pass on the damaged bridge.
He said the contractor would also start working on the damaged Sikalamba Bridge and Nangombe along the Bottom road from Sinazeze to Chiyabi.
At Sikalamba stream along Sinazeze/Chiyabi road, the minister failed to cross as the already damaged bridge was submerged in water and several motorists were stranded.
Among the stranded vehicles included the vehicle for the department of health which is servicing health personnel who were looking after Cholera patients.
Mr. Munkombwe said quick response was required to ensure that cholera drugs were supplied to Malima area where there was an out break of Cholera.
And Inyatsi Construction Company Production Manager Ian CaoMichael said the contract includes emergence works to repair all collapsed culverts and bridges along the Maamba/Batoka road and to repair the Sikalamba and Nangombe Bridge.
Mr. CaoMichael said work was expected to start once the water level at Sikalamba and Nangombe stream receded.
The contractor would repair the damaged bridges and culverts at the cost of K12 billion.
[ ZANIS ]
kaili which development is RB bringing to zambia if the bridge is like that. i think its high time RB should be kicked out of office and his friends.
Isn’t this the same bridge which was re-constructed by the army last year?
As the saying goes, ‘The devil is in the detail’. If you read between the lines, this whole bridge thing year in year out has symptoms of an organized scam. We have known very well for decades that our type of rains have always swept away culverts and roclas in these very places year in year out. We know how other Countries with more difficult terrain than ours, and with similar rain pattern have overcome this problem,( mostly by making simple but durable steel wire rope pedestrian suspension bridges and/or flat low concrete bridges that allow water to flow over at peak time). But what do we do each year? We get contractors to build culverts at a huge cost ( K12bn this year?) knowing fully well they will be swept away in no time by the shear force of water. Who do the innocent p…..
Cnt’d….Who do the innocent people affected by this blame? Torrential rain, of course. Who is getting money and ripping tax payers off year in year out? Organized crime. And it goes on and on…
MMD is reactive to problems. We need a proactive govt which listens to people when they talk. Listening is more important than talk, hence God gave us two ears for listening and one mouth for yapping. Year out year in the same problems. You are your own shoddy and hopeless companies to undertake construction works. You just disguise them by using other people’s names. Gwembe Tonga Development Road Project had worked on the bottom road. What exactly did they do? It seems ther nothing much that was done from Siavonga to near Lstone. Mwakama mali oonse doooo….