LUAPULA Province permanent secretary Chanda Kasolo is displeased with Government building engineers for certifying poorly constructed buildings in the province.
Mr Kasolo, who was speaking after a physical inspection of the Samfya District Hospital, said engineers certified buildings as suitable for use when it was clear the structures were substandard.
Mr Kasolo said some sections of the hospital infrastructure constructed by Zambian contractors did not meet the set standard.
He said such poor workmanship robbed Zambians of quality buildings and facilities and that Government was losing a lot of money.
Mr Kasolo wondered why a competent building engineer should certify sub-standard works when a full payment has been made.
He said he would also seek the opinion of investigative wings to ascertain the scope of such buildings that have been certified in the province.
Mr Kasolo noted that outer doors at the hospital had holes big enough for snakes to slither through and that some walls had already developed cracks.
The permanent secretary, who was accompanied by the deputy permanent secretary Joyce Bwacha Nsamba said Luapula deserved better than what the current crop of building engineers was offering.
Samfya district medical office representative Rhoda Bulezi told Mr Kasolo that water supply to the hospital had improved tremendously.
Mr Kasolo assured that water supply is set to improve further after five water borehole drilling teams sink boreholes in the district to supplement supply by the Luapula Water and Sewerage company.
ZANIS.
Chanda Kasolo-Family forest member – this chap was a simple Lusaka hustler, pauper. He is related to the first lady which makes him Sata’s nephew. Now he is PS ! What happened to the PF election promise and maninfesto about a professional civil service with PSs appointed by the Public Service Commission ? Kasolo’s appointment should be one of those to be investigated after change of gvt.
Zambian Engineers are useless. Look at the poorly planned Lusaka. The city is full of Indian made buildings with roofs looking like warehouses and they call them west gate. Shame. Who approve such buildings? Lusaka is now looking like a village in Indian. walls of buildings in the central town are littered with drawings of radios, TVs fridges etc. In case u don’t know how to stop such things, let me advise u what other countries have done. Any drawing put on the wall of a building is an advert. So charge them monthly levies for each drawing eg K200 per drawing. You will see what happens.
No Rotten Teeth, he is the blood uncle to MCS by relation! But then whats wrong with one hustler looking out for another hustler? Its his time! Get a life- see a dentist!
You give engineers a bad name when you employ on patronage and cronyism people who actually have little or nothing to do with the profession. Isn’t it time we respect both our graduates as well as people’s lives over corruption? Well done Mr Kasolo. I hope we move forward on this.
Blacklist the ass.holes so that they do not get any govt contracts again. I know problems starts from tendering down to construction, there is total corruption, how do you expect them to construct strong buildings when in fact contracts are awarded to poor people. Their interest is to fatten their pockets first before works are done.
What a hospital in a tourist town. It’s an eyesore. Bushe mu Zambia tamwabako ama plans Yama yanda apart from tu ‘always’ plans we always see? Do our zambian architects possess any imagination? They don’t only fail to think outside the box but they are in the box itself.
Zambian architectures, engineers and contractors are a digrace and very disgusting to say the least.kasolo,bravo and continue to expose such evils!kanshimwefibena Zambia fimo mwabashani mufimitwe fyenu umo?WHAT COMES FIRST WITH U IS CROOKEREDNESS.
I can’t blame the Engineers… The people who are awarding tenders nowadays are POLITICIANS… Why isn’t the Contractor mentioned?
A lot is not right in our country. Why is it that these defects are only noticed when politician visit sites? ans- No institutional oversight. I am a graduate engineer of over 5yrs experience in the private sector. I applied to work for Govt only to be offered the job of deputy director of works. You may wish to know that most directors of works (Not deputy director) in the country are diploma or certificate holders. How is it so you may ask. Well the local service commission is highly compromised to the level of being rotten. So before you condemn a profession get your facts right. This is the price the country has to pay for a nepotistic Govt. People are being employed to be paid and not to work!!!!!!!
Bloggers, please lets learn to be objective. A city planner does the city planning and not an engineer. The architect does the drawing and looks after the aesthetic issues of the project.e.g the issue of the door with holes. lol. An engineer will look at the stability issue.e.g the issue of cracks in the above report. The hospital in question is built on sand which requires fairly good designs and supervision. For the case of cracking as reported by uninformed journalist or politician is of no value as they don’t have capacity to ascertain the degree and causative of the cracking which a qualified engineer can do.
Blaming engineers for everything is not right. Imagine our nation team failing to score and you blame defenders or the goal keeper?????
Chanda Kasolo should not even go as far as Samfya. Just in his back yard in Mansa at Mansa Lodge, I was too disappointed when I went in the bar and noticed the finishes in side there. The door leading to the toilets is not flashed with the wall. Poor workmanship indeed. One wonders how the works were certified as completed according to the required standards and paid. That is a big loss on behalf of gevernment. As a matter of interest I would like to know who was the contractor.
Another thing Kasolo should know is that it is people like him who imposes the PF cadre contractors on Engineers and demand that the contractors are paid regardless of the quality of the job they have done. Sometimes even the president comes in and demands the PF cadre contractors to be paid as soon as possible. What can a hopeless engineer do when politicians come in.