Government has raised funds for the construction of a dual carriage-way between Solwezi and Chingola to minimise congestion as a result of increasing traffic and reduce accidents.
According to Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications, Christopher Yaluma, the road will come complete with toll gates as a way of raising funds for continuous rehabilitation.
He said during a luncheon also attended by North Western Province minister Nathaniel Mubukwanu and provincial permanent Secretary Augustine Seyuba at Royal Kansanshi Hotel in Solwezi on Friday that the state of the 180 kilometres road stretch had become a source of sustained debate even in parliament.
Yaluma said following President Michael Sata’s desire through the Link Zambia 8000 Project to have major roads linked by tarmac, government will soon initiate feasibility studies on the stretch and by the end of the year, a contractor will be on site to commence works.
He said government had identified thirty-seven roads across the country, averaging three per province, which were key to the economic development of the country for full-scale tarring.
Yaluma was responding to a concern raised by Royal Kansanshi Hotel director Victoria Ryder who said the road had gone into considerable disrepair and was a danger to motorists and affected the rate of delivery of services thus slowing down growth of the economy.
And Mubukwanu said he was aware of the deterioration of township roads within Solwezi and had since met officials from the Rural Roads Unit, Zambia National Service and Road Development Agency to map a rehabilitation plan of nearly forty kilometres of road stretch.
Meanwhile, Yaluma said the general public was right to question the development agenda of the government and push for its implementation.
He said no government deserved to be rewarded any further mandate if it failed to deliver on its promises but reiterated that the ruling PF will stand ready to face the electorate in 2016.
This is good news.The stretch between Kitwe and Chingola need a face-lift too.We have lost a lot of lives in that road.
another promise for dual carriage way! the john chinena dual carriage was also promised..hahahah.banana heads PF, people are still waiting for the 90days promises,,,hahahahaha
90days promise is the reason Zambians elected SATA? IF SO POOR ZAMBIA
Hmmmm…talk is cheap. These guys are failing to implement pronouncements in their budget plan…now so many projects being mentioned. Somehow this looks like grand standing!
what happened to the 750m$ raised from selling bonds? The government need to disclose how it has been spent.
What’s that got to do with the price of cheese? If you are going to comment make it relevant.
Pounds and Pence – The comment by Shufuni is relevant because the Minister is silent on how the money was raised yet we all know that Zambia has $750 million cash from the Eurobond. Is this a loan the Minister is talking about? It is important we know the sources of money otherwise by the time these guys are done, all our revenue will be going to debt servicing again.
Pounds and Pence .
The cheese price will come down if that money is in Circulation.The Question is relevant.
This is a good plan and it will shame the critics who have no idea what development means.Roads are the backborn of development and the PF policy on road rehabilitation and construction is a very important policy and needs the support of every well meaning Zambian.People must understand that procurement of roads takes time and patience is needed to see actual works start.Those who saw how the Kalomo-Livingstone road was before it was rehabilitated must have thought the road development agency was sleeping.Tendering for roads takes time,it is not like going to the market to buy kapenta.The opposition must tell the people the truth insteady of yapping that the PF has failed to honour their promises!!Patience pays!!
Good idea i hope its not just a pronouncement like many other that have been made by the PF regime but no materialisation.
I have a soft spot for Yaluma though. He is one of the few PF MPs who seem to be level headed. i hope you wont be transferred now.
Lf is Jrny: We seem impatient for the reason that Yaluma has mentioned. We have a right to push the government for well deserved development. This is the kind of talk we want to hear from ministers and 1000 times more from the president. What is happening, where, when, and how much? But if all we hear is appointments/disappointments, mini-shuffles, incidents of constitutional breech, protection of criminals, misappropriation and huge cash outlay without positive results, we have a good reason to be miffed.
The language of a president in emerging economies is DEVELOPMENT. Development in the morning, developing in the day, development in the night. Development, development and development!
I have never commented before on the online publications but today I am moved to do so. This is a great job honourable. Job well done. I dont know why i always knew Hon. Christopher Yaluma is one of the great leaders to develop this country. You are my role model sir. Keep it up
good move Hon. Yaluma….that way we have NWP votes; as for the SP just give them new trains as designed by Prof. Clive Chirwa ninshi HH aikata panshi in his own place of birth; stadium & some shopping malls in WP; some ring roads in Lusaka/CB, 2 or 3 more modern buildings with escalators & refurbished airports ninshi twaikata urban votes….with these votes ka 50%+1 te issue….that will give me more business to supply Tongas with some chloroquine for chewing for at least another 5years! VIVA PF! VIVA SATA!
If you want to debate issues please do so by referring to the topic being discussed. Do not show your ignorance here by trying to incite insults based on tribal lines. We love Zambia as one nation so please go and vomit your tribal insults elsewhere. I don’t think even a PF knucklehead will agree with you with your selfish and ignorant rants.
Iwe Notonga if your vocabulary is limited to insulting tribes here then please do us a favor and just SHUT UP!
OK i hear you guys – ‘onezambiaonenation’ for real! please accept my apologies….cheers!
kikikikikikikiki
This is wonderful stuff! thank you listening. We need major roads to incorporate some sort of self revenue generation mechanism. Please also look at introducing highway service stations in your designs for these highways which should be equipped with filling station, a highway police post, emergency services such as fire engine(s), ambulance(s) or even mobile hospital units. Naturally if the road is good, it will eventually attract services such as food outlets and shops which can only be good for development and job creation.
Roads should have been priority instead of sports arenas.
The money is already there for roads but Govt. misuses it on trivial projects. Stay focused PF, you have potential.
Nubian princes u r correct, priority should go to road network, too much vehicles on z roads, too much accidents today, fewer roads, so many road blocks mounted by corrupt police.
And by-elections
While this is commendable, it should be said the first dual carriageway should have been from Chirundu to Kabwe. We are building where there are few cars while entry into the megacity Lusaka is by small tracks
Get your facts right man.Have you done any traffic counts on Zambian roads?Do you that Solwezi is the new mining province of Zambia and that the traffic on Chingola-Solwezi road has increase tremendously?
Work on the road from Lusaka to Solwezi people, not Chingola to Solwezi. Though the major roads should be dual carriages.
This may be a strategic move to involve the mines as they will be the major clients when the toll is introduced. Road tolls should be aimed at vehicles which extensively use the roads for commercial purposes so that the ordinary user could be subsidized. Let’s start somewhere first and if the scheme is successful move it to other parts of the country.
Chilu: I agree with you.
The government has a responsibility to provide safe roads to travel on. If the money that has been raised is from a Private Partnership, then the revenue raised from toll gate collection will be used to payback the loan. My understanding of this type of tax, is that the government should provide an alternative on the route for a free usage that may not have all the bells and whistles that the toll road provides. I hope this is being looked at. This option applies both in Western countries and in Africa. Take the Blantyre-Limbe Highway. A free option is available for those who can not afford the toll fee
Great news. Pf should contract it out to a reputable firm and not one that does shoddy works. That copper from Solwezi is transported by heavy duty lorries therefore, those roads should be built to last…
more rhetoric as usual.10+1.6 =11.6years of promises til 2016.the only way to keep patriotic fulls alive.
YOU HAVE NO BRAINS MAN!THINK BEFORE YOU YAP.UPND HAS NO DEVELOPMENT PLANS,NOT EVEN HOW TO USE DONKEYS FOR RURAL TRANSPORT!!
@life is a journey.boss iam not even a man,neither am i a upnd member.so you think that who ever has diferent views from yours is pf?and whoever posts here is always a man and has no brains.infact,there is mmd,narep,add,unip,upnd.all these are active parties.grow up stop behaving like a president who never informs the nation whenever he leaves the country.
Long overdue, Solwezi is contributing heavily 2 the national treasury thus the road shouldn’t look as if it’s going 2 unproductive shanty.
This is a good project given that I foresee increased activity on that trunk road though I’m wondering where the minister suddenly stumbled on the hideous sum of cash, if toll gates are to be included and the collected funds are used for the right purpose I don’t why this shouldn’t be a success and beneficial to the economy at large.
I hope a reputable Zambian contractor undertakes this project and I hope the gov’t would look at raising more revenue from the miners as they are the ones who will be the main beneficiaries from this project.
BRILLIANT WORKING GOVERNMENT. EXTEND THIS TO ALL MAJOR ROADS, PLEASE
feasibility studies every now and then. when will the start working on the road? waiting for more deaths to happen then make fake promises
this is no good news at all. how many times since last year have we been hearing this kind of nosense. in zambia any development finishes in feasibility studies, thats all. that feasibility studies is the only way these people will enrich their pockets, after that, they will come up with other means. no wonder when serious minded people like Prof Chirwa never enganged them in feasibility studies, knowing the zambian mentality of quick cash without work, he is encountering so many resistence. its time we change our mentality, otherwise no tangible development will come even after 50 years of self rule.
Iwe it seems you dont know what feasibility studies are.For you own information any road to be widened or upgraded to a dual carriageway adequate reserve or space in a lay mans language is required.You cant just start cutting trees and demolishing houses or blasting off mountanins without carrying out feasibility studies.You have to know where the road will pass and what will be affected,flora and fauna!!Just shut up or ask Engineers to explain what is meant by feasibility studies insteady of backing!!
There is something amiss here. Does it mean such developments should be qualified by the number of accidents happening on a particular road. If so, what are the relative statistics to justify the prioritisation of this road. Further, this piecemeal approach to development is what has killed our country. We need leaders who can have a strategic vision of the country as whole so that whatever they do is towards the grand vision.
There was the link Zambia project which really does not seem to have gained momentum. Is PF then in GRZ to simply give promises and no action? Sata came bragging as an experienced man of action but just were is the action? It seems even the money from the much talked about euro bond is being used on bye elections and nothing else. Where is new money from? PF is…
Good plan and this must materialize, it is a noble cause. However, I take note of the following and I hope due consideration is paid:
(1) Dual carriage is welcome there, but as long as those heavy trucks will use such roads transporting heavy goods like copper ore, copper concentrate or copper itself, the dual carriage road will develop usual potholes which we already have. This solution should go hand in hand with that important rail link from Chingola to Solwezi.
(2) “government will soon initiate feasibility studies on the stretch and by the end of the year, a contractor will be on site to commence works” . Well, end of year is December and it will be rainy season then. I wonder how construction works would work smoothly during this rainy period. Reconsider the time frame again.
For good road contractors, rain is not an object. In fact, rain is a blessing. We need good road construction. By good I mean quality roads!
Christopher Yaluma,the tea at Royal Kansashi made you think less.Can you tell the nation if Solemnize-Chingola is part of the 8000 link Zambia project?
We are not foolish as people of the province.We are watching as you are busy stealing our copper without any meaningful development.
Since coming into power the PF government has not even started any project not even a single toilet.
The voter apathy you saw in the bye-elections is important and the riots you saw in Chawama last week means that the province is annoyed with this goverment.
Pull up your socks or …..?
Hello un circumsized philistines,please let this plan work otherwise wanza wenu twakanyivotela wanyi
Now i can fly in my altezza
I seriously suggest that bloggers consult professionals and ask themselves relevant questions before posting comments because some of the comments exhibit serious lack of understanding of the subjects or shear ignorance, bitterness and unreasonable frustrations!!You cannot start asking about where the Eurobond is now or where it has been applied before any works are done.The project for ring roads in Lusaka that is starting in a few weeks time was conceived 1995 and this is when the works are starting.Muleipusha before commenting.Muletusebanya!!
RDA, and yo engineering consultants, your design of roads most of the time is below international standards. You must pay paticular attention to T junctions and the shoulders. I have observed that most of the junctions for the high and subways have limited arcs or turning space, or in some cases not just there, thereby making the road vulnerable to long trucks when turning. A road joining another rd must not have its ends touching that road at exactly 90′, this is poor engineering. There must be plenty turning peripheral in form of an arc on both sides. Secondly, most latest highways have no lay byes. This too is poor engineering. Hon Yaluma, take a leaf from my free advice, pliz. We need state of the art roads now than ever before.
POINT OF CORRECTION, THE TITLE IS SUPPOSED TO BE: Government fails to raise funds for construction of dual carriage-way between Solwezi and Chingola
spot on.poor failures(pf)
Has the Kitwe/Chingola dual carriage way construction works started? I remember some PF Government minister saying that come January 2013 constructions of the dual carriage way will commence.Bwana when is this project commencing or its another promise after promise.
Honourable Minister, the congestion is actually between Kitwe and Chingola. As you leave Chingola for Solwezi, the traffic actually thins out. The dual courage way must first be constructed between Kitwe and Chingola which is the most congested and most dangerous stretch of road in Zambia. After that then the dual courage way between Chingola and Solwezi. However if the funds are limited the Chingola Solwezi road can just be expanded to allow two trucks to safely pass each other.
I will believe once the work starts. Otherwise it is just a smoke screen promise
Not forgetting the GRAND CLIVE CHIRWA ZAMBIA RAILWAYS modernisation project. The construction of 3 new international airports and rehabilitation of the old ones. Establishment of industrial clusters in provinces and eventually to districts. Construction of more sports stadia and sports centres of excellence in each province. Improvements to the district and general hospitals including construction of 600 health posts. Kazungula bridge construction will commence in 2014. Bottom road in Southern Province is being worked on. Great East road is up for rehab. Pedicle road is work in progress.
There are plans and efforts to re-establish a national airline. Let me also mention that there is also the Pave Zambia 2000 for improving the urban business and dwelling environments. This is in addition to providing an enabling environment where genuine private investment and business can thrive. For example, you can embark on a real estate development business if you have the money. There is a big shortage of housing stock in many council manucipalities, including the new districts! NO CORRUPTION PLIZ! This is a snipet view to what the PF stands for
Honorable Minister, the dual carriage way should start with the Chingola Kitwe road as it is the most congested and most dangerous road in Zambia at the moment. I think people who drive on this road can bear me witness. As you leave Chingola for Solwezi, traffic actually thins out but the road is just too narrow.
From a transportation engineering perspective. If the current road is being heavily utilised by heavy trucks carry copper and its associated materials, wouldn’t a better investment be to link Solwezi to Kitwe with a rail line? This will remove this component from the road. Building a highway that will carry the kinds of loads we are talking about is quite expensive. For such you will need a rigid pavement design which will require a heavy-duty industrial floor slab. These have a life span of between 30-40 years. Unless the government is planning on such a highway, then fine otherwise a rail line link is a better option.
A welcome development indeed,i hope we shall not end up with feasibility studies,but with Mr Benard Chiwala at the helm of RDA, this will be a reality. Not only is Mr Chiwala a strategic planner but he is proactive as well.