Construction of the 76 kilometers Chadiza- Chipata road under the link Zambia 8000 Road project has stopped .
This was after the Chadiza magistrate court ordered Chinese State engineering company to stop getting gravel from a villager’s private land along the Chadiza Chipata stretch.
And an excavator operator at China state engineering company has been arrested after he was founding excavating gravel from the villager’s land.
Chadiza subordinate court magistrate Fabian Likulunga yesterday ordered the Chinese State Engineering Company ,the company that government has contracted to construct the 76 Kilometers Chadiza- Chipata road into bituminous standard to stop getting gravel from a pit after a villager sued the company for trespassing on his land.
John Banda of Kamseche village has sued China State engineering Company, claiming K150, 000 as compensation for damages to his land where the construction company is getting the gravel.
And during a court session yesterday the court went on a site visit where it ordered the construction company to stop excavating gravel until the matter was exhausted by the court but some workers defied the court order and continued working before the magistrate ordered for their arrest.
Mr. Likulunga ordered for the arrest of an operator for the excavator that was found working in the borrow pit and has also confiscated keys for the two trucks that were found loading gravel at the site.
K150,000 compensation is too little- these Chinese Scumbags are making a lot of money and are even working with impunity-
That is too little money.
These are people who need Braiber Changala. Not him suing Sata-what-what. Human rights are been abused in Chadiza.
This is irresponsible and lack of ethics or respect for the environment or people…the court should have fined these Chinese cowboys K1million…this is no different to cattle rustling.
These cowboys have priced the works of that project based on material they will be purchasing…now they are getting material for free, get a Quantity Surveyor or Construction PM to price the material they have stolen from Mr Banda add damages and distress caused plus court charges and pay the landowner(s).
This all govts and consultants faults. Gravel has to picked from some where. Where this gravel has to be found long before the projects starts and social and environmental impacts assessed and resolved before the works begin. I wonder if consultant teams have sociologists in them to understand the prospects of a possible land tangle or it is full beng crooks. (Specialists in crooking lab reports)
BUT DOES THIS REALLY DESERVE THE STOPPING OF THE COMPANY TO DO WORK? THIS IS NOT A CORRUPTION CASE. THE LANDLORD HAS SUED THE COMPANY SO THE COURT(S) SHOULD HAVE JUST CONCENTRATED ON THE COMPENSATION CASE RATHER THAN HALTING ROAD CONSTRUCTION ALTOGETHER. COMPANIES ARE SUED THE WORLD OVER BUT AS LONG AS THEY NOT SUING THEM FOR LIFE THREATENING ISSUES THEY CAN CONTINUE THEIR OPERATIONS.
Great Peter. My fridge has broken and I am coming to ” borrow” yours.
No one is stopping the company from doing work. They should just get the gravel from somewhere else, not fromsomeone’s private property. The guy wants compensation for what has been done already. If they wish to continue using that gravel then they have to buy it from the man, if he is willing to sell. He has the right to use his land/property in a manner of his choosing.
I wonder which law the courts are using, govt has power to extract minerals, oil, grave anything beyond a meter down the existing ground. Which means you only own 1m below the ground of your plot the rest is govts. The only thing that can be done to avoid confusion is to inform the owner that govt is entering your land and reinstate it to a better environmental way with minimal compensation some of which may not even occur. People read the laws eg mine mineral act, water act, environmental acts, roads acts and comment wisely. So if govt find copper 2m below your mansion your mansion will be destroyed and compensated to the existing value.
I beg to be forgiven if wrong. But am sure that’s a no claim for the owner of the land.
You are forgiven. Now can you please check Art. 11(d) and Art. 16(1)(2)(3)of the current (1996) Constitution.
I don t think in this case the Chinese are to blame, the government that gave them the tender should be answerable for not showing them where to collect gravel from in the first place; so the project has halted; now what; don t they want better roads; I m surprised the PF is not blaming the opposition to be behind all this; LOL
I hear the villager has promised that he will never use the road once compansated. he will buy an hot air balloon to use instead.
RDA knows how to resolve these issues way before any road construction or rehabilitation or upgrade are done. They conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment which includes social impact assessments. These ESIA are submitted to ZEMA for approvals underwhich the local communities are engaged, compensated or resettled as need be. In the absence of this are delayments and court issues while RDA Environmental unit guys keep drawing salaries for nothing. Madam Saili come to the aid of chinaman we need that road fixed. The last time i used that road in 1999 it took us 6hrs to reach chadiza from chipata.