Tuesday, March 19, 2024

All the stalled road projects due to lack of funds will resume soon-Mukanga

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Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Minister Yamfwa Mukanga (left) addresses new Zambia Railways Board members at his office as the new Board Chairperson Davies Chama looks on in Lusaka
Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Minister Yamfwa Mukanga
(left) addresses new Zambia Railways Board members at his office as
the new Board Chairperson Davies Chama looks on in Lusaka

TRANSPORT, communications, Works and Supply Minister Yamfwa Mukanga says all the road projects that have stalled due to lack of funds will resume in the next few weeks.

Mr Mukanga said while it is true that some projects have come to a halt due to lack of money, the Government remained committed to complete all the projects that were started under late president Michael Sata.

The Government embarked on a five-year ambitious road construction project under Link Zambia 8000 in 2012 which is expected to be done in three phases at a cost of more than US $5.5 billion.

The first phase – a construction of 2,290 kilometres of road at about US $1.5 billion – had been in full force in different parts of the country until recently.

There has also been Pave Zambia 2,000 as well as Pave Zambia 2000 and the L-400 road projects aimed at galvanising and modernising Zambia into a land-linked country.

However, there have been widespread concerns and speculations that many road projects have stalled while others have been abandoned because the Government has not paid the contractors.

Recently Paramount Chief Mpezeni of the Ngoni people in Chipata District cited Chipata-Vubwi and Chipata-Chadiza as one of the projects that have suffered abandonment by contractors.

But Mr Mukanga told journalists in Lusaka soon after attending the Good Governance in Roads Project public event organised by the World Bank that the Government has not backpedalled on its vision and commitment.
“Just give us a few weeks, we will be back on track; yes we have had some financial challenges in the recent past but everything should be in place soon,” he said.

“We have been liaising with the Treasury and we are confident that soon we will have full operations in all the projects that have stopped.” He said the Government was also considering going into private public partnership in the construction of roads so that contractors could get their money after completing the works.

Meanwhile, World Bank country director Kundavi Kadiresan has called for strong monitoring mechanism in road construction projects to enhance quality work by contractors.

The World Bank has been piloting Good Governance in Road Project (GGRP) in four provinces aimed at providing necessary information to the community that would allow the people to take part in the monitoring of the road works.

It was implemented by some civil society organisation and the media where participants used monitoring tools and demanded disclosure of contracts between the government and the contractors.

“This project has proved in provinces where it has been implemented that it helps to get value for money, and I hope you can consider providing funding so that it can be used countrywide,” Ms Kadiresan said

10 COMMENTS

  1. So it’s true government is very broke! After living beyond its means spending recklessly and coupled with corruption. Ba “black people” we need to change our way of doing things if we are going to become relevant and self sufficient in this time and age.

    • What? “He said the Government was also considering going into private public partnership in the construction of roads so that contractors could get their money after completing the works.”

      Get their money from who? you want the people who are already paying road tax to start paying private companies? If the road tax is given to those private firms, then no problem.

    • We have been told time and time again that this govt has misappropriated the money they borrowed from Eurobond and other loaners and most of you have been saying contrary. The roads project money were controlled by Sata and Nsanda at state house and they are both dead. So we will never know the truth.

  2. This has to one of the dullest men in cabinet only second to BUFFOON Kambwili…doesn’t this empty tin remember saying something contrarily to to this a few months ago. They have just blindly borrowed with no regard to who is going to pay and on top of that they have reversed the mineral tax policy for the mines…that’s more borrowing forecast to fill that fiscal vacuum.
    Then tomorrow this empty tin Mukanga will make silly utterances about creating a national airline.

  3. We are broke we have no money we are the poorest country in the world. Just read this latest report:
    Zambia has been ranked the poorest country in the world beating Gaza strip, Zimbabwe, Suriname and other contenders to the title. Qatar has been ranked the richest country in the world for 2014 – 2015.
    The report acknowledges that Zambia is one of the leading producers of copper in the world and its economy mainly depends on foreign investment in copper. Even though the country is equipped with industries like mineral processing, cement production and other agricultural related industries, it has the highest poverty ratio of 86%. It is the poorest country in the world in which seven out of ten people lives on less than two dollars a day

  4. This is the problem with PF, they have forgotten they were calling our local contractors lazy, when infact they weren’t paid. We now know the government is quite broke. Why cant we have leaders that think about future generations?? Leaders who can. Learn from what has happened in some parts of Europe. I hope he can keep the idea of a national airline to hmself, its an annoying wish.

  5. Problem is that leaders like Mukanga think that if he wears a suit and has an office that makes him a leader. It does not. Leaders are born not made. This man trips over his tongue and contradicts himself. So where is the money for road projects coming from? More borrowing? This country has been mortgaged to the hilt!

  6. Mukonta, it’s not only road projects that have stalled due to lack of payment by the government. Even building projects for schools hospitals have all stalled. Pay before all local contractors go out of business and the projects will be incomplete.

  7. People cried the last time that, Kambwili is one of the many responsible in the corruption of money assigned for road projects. Him and the Gomes brothers. Have you seen the home Kambwili illegally built himself on the golf course in Luanshya? We here it is on top of sewer lines so imagine if they burst and the pressure on them at the moment. And president Lungu is not saying anything even with Mulenga Sata purchasing a home for $500,000 in South Africa. They seem to think it’s their world and the only ones who can eat. Meanwhile school children have no tables and chairs in schools.

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