Government says it is concerned over the delayed works on the Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airport terminus.
And Government has expressed concern at Inyatsi Construction Company’s failure to finish major Road works on the Main Mosi-o-Tunya road.
Works , Supply, Transport and Communication Minister Mr. Christopher Yaluma says the contractor constructing the new Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula terminals should double up his efforts to ensure that works are completed by the June 20th, 2013.
He said this would to leave the airport management to have enough time for testing the facility.
ZANIS reports that the minister said this in the Tourist Capital today after touring works on the Main Mosi-o-Tunya Road .
He expressed concern at the slow pace at which the works were done and implored the company to do double shifts if the project was to be completed before the United Nations World Tourism General Assembly (UNWTO) in August this year.
He said government was deeply worried if the plant continue to be out of operation, works on the roads in the tourist capital might grind to a halt through throwing preparation for the event into disarray.
The Minister said government expected Inyasti to have a positive attitude towards the project and should even consider working at night to speed up through works.
“I expected a lot of positive progress on the roads because last time I came here you did not talk about the asphalt making equipment being down and I want to tell you that as government we shall not tolerate any more such delays to suffocate our preparation for the event,” said Mr. Yaluma.
“As fro now, all I can tell you is to accelerate your works especially on Mosi-o-Tunya road because this road hinges on the reputation of co-host city as well as the country and if possible start working at night so that you meet the completion deadlines,” he said.
Mr. Yaluma also wondered why the company failed to mobilize all its equipment last year when it was awarded the contract.
But Asphalt Manager Mr. Johan Ratief explained that his company was putting full commitment to work 24 hours shift to ensure that road projects works are expedited.
Mr. Ratif explained that the asphalt making machine which makes about 900 tonnes of bitumen per day would be fully operational by next week that would see the road works stepped up.
He said the company was only given the contract to work on the Mosi-o-Tunya raid on April 20th adding that the company will put all its resources together to ensure that the road was ready done by July this year.
The Road construction company has so far done 40 per cent of the township roads in and has employed more than 600 local people.
And earlier during an inspection of the new terminal facility , Mr. Yaluma noted that time was running out for the any delays in completing the project and called for the contractor to star working double shifts.
“We do not have time on our hands and by now I expected you start working on a 24 hour basis and do everything you can to finish the project,” Mr. Yaluma said.
He also urged the company to do a follow up some of the materials imported form South Africa so that works can progress.
Government enraged Yangts Jiang to construct a new terminal building at Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airport at the tune of K150 Billion(KR 150 Million) out of which K78 Billion(KR78 Million ) was meant for specialized equipment such as checking in systems, elevators among others items.
ZANIS
Elyo bwacha. PF and Sata nimbwa sana. How can we zambians accept this. Why complain today when you had all this time from last year January.
PF busy causing by-elections yet failing to improve infrastructure for the WTO. eish…
Let Inyatsi double up the efforts.
Out of all the entropy, you will be amazed that we shall pull it off. It will come to pass and you will be left with your mouth half open in awe.
Chimbwi No Plan…. Go to Zimbabwe and see what they did, they finished all the major works last month. August is just 2 months away and on our side, we are still talking, the market and the main bus stop is not even 30% complete…. this will be a total failure and an embarrassment to Zambia.
I can just imagine how MMD would have handled these preparations, i cry for my vote i gave PF, these guys are failures, all they do is travel and make allowances.
Dirt and mud rule the day
Super pretty Nubian Princess. How are you my digital darling? Nice to give you a blgg-a-sphereal hug. Oh..by the way, iagree with you..Dirt and mud rule the day.
Solola Bye!
What do u expect when our Tourism minister is PF’s campaign chairperson how much time has she wasted on bye elections campaigns and more in June
The Govt was informed so late (February) that Zambia was co-hosting. So forgive the Govt, they will not repeat it again once for more for the second time.
You still say forgive them they will not “REPEAT AGAIN” PF cadre???? Shame on you man or woman.
You thought it was easy for your friends to work. Iyo chinto. I saw it coming. Now June 20th ie 18 working days. Fuel mwakunda, WUnga mwakunda, workers will demand their salary increase and go on strike.
Its funny how the minister is telling the contractor to start working double shifts, where is the contractor going to get the resources for that…..risk running the project at a loss like the gov’t.
This Department is too cumbersome and needs to be split up into two ministries. Yaluma can not oversee Energy, Works , Supply, Transport and Communication all at the same time.
The cabinet is already bloated.Why add more expenses.Just create directors for Energy ,Works and Supply,Transport and Communication overseen by a minister,deputy minister and Permanent secretary.
directory works has five directors who almost all have same clan from Munchinga
director planing, administartion, finance, building, roads, etc
The whole ministry might 30 directors and it has become difficult to work
@Jay Jay, you’re very right. Works &Supply, Transport, Communications and Energy are 4 independent and very key service delivery areas in governance, and it can’t be right to compress them into one ministry. A minister is supposed to give his ministry political leadership and guidance in the ministry’s key priority areas. Now, does Yaluma focus equally on each of these 4? Ministries should be configured more on the basis of national priorities than who they earmarked for… And there’s completely no logic in saving money at the expense of service delivery. Actually the inefficiencies of this super ministry far outweigh the so-called saving!
Exactly my point, today the minister is complaining about transport, next week it will be about ZESCO load shedding, the following week it will be TAZAMA pipe line… if you recall last month the same Yaluma was complaining about the Telecoms regulator colluding with the network providers yet all this was happening on his watch. Mobile phone and broadband tariffs are hideously high in Zambia because of lack policy which was reflected (the lack of) in the last budget. They hoodwinked the masses into registering their SIM Cards for what? Only the network providers were the benefactors of that scheme as it was a market survey on the cheap for them.
@RUSSIAN METEORITE – it’s not about quantity but quality focus and efficiency.
The govt left things to the last minute and now want to put pressure on the contractor. Surely, if the contractor was awarded the project last month, do you think it takes 1 month to build an airport terminal? Not even a house takes that short of a time to build. Zambians we always love to leave things to the last minute.
This is called POOR or NO PLANNING at all. Was the upgrade of this airport or the Mosi-O-tunya road part of the planned national infrastructure development programme OR an afterthought following our appointment as co-host of the UNWTO? Please note that if these projects were not commissioned as a prerequisite to the hosting of the UNWTO it is very wrong to accelerate them to a shorter construction period because Quality & Durability will be greatly sacrificed in the end. Remember, that the UNWTO is just an event yet this infrastructure is meant to last us a few decades! Why do we work in reverse in this country? Shouldn’t we first have checked if we had the necessary supporting infrastructure before bidding for this event?
Actually we mbwa niwebo mpangula fu.
Let the people Judge your comment. U the only one supporting PF and their confused rehab works in Livingstone.
today that is when they have woken up. Sylvia has been to L/stone more than 10 times some with Wynter for orgies. so today they cannot rise up and start complaining of slow works when Zim with its sanctions is well above us in preps.
By the time we enter the 2nd half of this year, running the affairs of Zambia would have turned into a nightmare for one Zondwe and his “Frankenstein” bloated government. I have never ever seen such a cantankerous bunch of lunatics pass for government!
This is a good case for breach of contract. Contractor must deliver according to specification. Failure to do so will destroy the country’s reputation. It is absolutely essential for contractor to satisfy government. No funny moves here!
Typical Bemba useful and styopet idyot!
Who owns inyati? A minister?
It is a South African company. It has emerged on the scene from nowhere. This is the same company which was given the contract to rehabilitate the Chembe-Mansa road. The works even there are slow, especially that there is no UNWTO taking place in Chembe or Mansa. It is like their equipment is not adequate.
You see, part of the problem could the policy to let these contractors use labour based methods in a quest to provide some employment for our people (youths). For Livingstone, they should have allowed the Chinese do the roads and using hightech for that. Phoenix or Ruebex were faster in my opinion. OR where they MMD sympathisers and funders?