COPPERBELT Minister Mwenya Musenge has warned motorists against driving on the newly constructed Kitwe-Chingola road before the contractor completes the works.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Musenge said it was wrong for motorists to use the road under construction before the contractor hands it over for commissioning.
“It is not right for people to use the road before it is completed. Let us allow the contractor to complete his work,” Mr Musenge said.
He said a lot of money has been spent on upgrading the road to a dual carriageway and it is important that damage is not caused to the road by using it before the works are completed.
Mr Musenge appealed to the Zambia Police Service to liaise with the contractor to see how best they can provide security to the affected stretch.
He said motorists who do not comply with the directive should be arrested and charged.
“Most of the people using the new road are minibus and taxi drivers who want to beat traffic and get to their destinations early but let us refrain from doing that and respect what the contractor is doing,” he said.
Mr Musenge is hopeful that the contractor working on the road will accelerate the works when they resume.
He said road works have not stalled but that the contractor merely went on recess during the rainy season.
Some motorists have removed the barricades that the contractor had placed on the road under construction and have been driving on it against expert advice.
Only in Zambia do such reckless regard for the law happens.
No wonder we have even accepted living under chocking dirt and filth as a new normal
People i went to zed from 6 to 25th April. Used this road on my way to chingola and chililabombwe. It is one of the dangerous roads. So many trucks and other vehicles using this road. Drive with caution always. Bwana GRZ can the contractor finish the works as these works have stalled for some time now.
I love Zambia and all people of zed. I enjoyed my stay. God bless Zambia.
The contractor has been on recess for 2 years! The design for constructing that road was very bad. The existing road is terrible and heavily congested meanwhile just a few metres away is an empty graded gravel road that has been dormant for months on end.It doesn’t make sense to sit in crawling traffic for an hour when there is an unused road next to it. When that road is finally complete all the traffic will again use those single lanes and spoil the road very quickly.The dual carriage way lanes should have been worked on simultaneously and in stages.
Zambia for, unruly & failures of following rules.
Enforce some barriers, otherwise the mentality of most of these drivers are confused. Visionless indeed!
Destroying is the middle name.
The Skeleton Key
~206~
catch the culprits and slap necessary punishment.Such drivers must have gotten corrupt driver’s license
Tell them musenge
…I partly blame the contractor for installing portable barriers….its well known that we have a lot of indiscipline motorists pa Zed…..drivers who go thru a red light bcos there is no traffic from the other side….driving on full beam at night regardless of approaching cars…..its something I personally witnessed….
Every one drives on full beam in Zambia I was shocked I think the traffic police no matter how corrupted they are should do more patrols than road blocks.
Hehehehe, driver training is poor
…Was this road done by Wilbur Simuusa?
Ati the contractor just went on recces because of rains. Is it still raining between Kitwe and Chingola?
I understand some contractors were busy working on roads in Senga-Hill and Mpongwe during campaigns for the recent by elections when it was still raining without any complaints about rain.
I wish a bye election could occur in Chingola so that this project could be expedited.
Why is Mwenya Musenge telling lies? The contractor did not go on recess because of the rains but simply withdrew from sight because of non-payment of money to buy materials. The PF government is broke and has no money to continue the projects they started without thinking. So many projects have stalled around the country because there is no money to finance them. One just needs to go to UTH or any government health centre anywhere in the country to tell how this government has failed the people of Zambia. At UTH people sleep on the floor, wheel chairs are broken down, stretchers are not available…its just deplorable. Meanwhile we have these idio.ts contracting $150 million loans which they don’t want the tax payers to know about. Is this govt serious really? In 2016 vote wisely.
WHERE IS THE LAW KANSHI IN ZAMBIA. THIS COUNTRY SURPRISES ME EVEN WHEN A LAWYER IS IN POWER THAT’S WHEN LAWLESSNESS IS ON THE TRIPLE. I REMEMBER HOW LAW JUST WENT THROUGH THE WINDOW WHEN LEVY WAS IN POWER. IT SEEMS LIKE AGAIN LAW WILL JUST BE IGNORED BY LAW MAKERS AND ENFORCERS EVEN WHEN EL IS A LAWYER BY PROFESSION. A COUNTRY CAN NEVER DEVELOP WITHOUT LAW.
Where are the police because there are so many road blocks but have failed to stop people using the unfinished road.After all the part which is finished is such a short distance and how can police fail to catch such culprits.They are just busy with the routine check on speeding.
It is the usual indiscipline compounded by an irresponsible leadership. The contractor ran out of cash and ‘recessed’. Pay the guy so works can continue. The police are as useless as the leaders because all they look for are missing triangles and car stickers instead of overseeing the safety of motorists and guarding of such unfinished structures. Useless is written all over our country; this is why our voting patterns also turn out useless…