Illegal settlers that have encroached on airport land in Kasama district are said to have contributed to the delay in starting the construction of Kasama Airport runway in Northern Province.
Northern Province minister Freedom Sikazwe disclosed this when Vice President Inonge Wina addressed the business community at Wamulungwe lodge in Kasama last night.
Responding to questions from some members of business community who wanted to know why the construction of Kasama Airport had delayed, Mr. Sikazwe said the project was being delayed due to some residents who had encroached the area.
Mr. Sikazwe explained that government has already engaged a Chinese contractor who was already on site to begin the works.
He however said the works have failed to commence due to issues of land encroachment surrounding the area by some residents.
Mr. Sikazwe warned that government was not going to tolerate people delaying development to take place due to illegal settlements.
Meanwhile the Vice President also appealed to residents to assist government in resolving the issues so that the area can be developed as soon as possible.
And Vice President Inonge Wina is disappointed with the slow pace at which the construction works of Musa day secondary school in Kasama district of Northern Province is progressing.
Speaking when she toured the construction site in Kasama today, Mrs. Wina said she was disappointed with the local company which has taken too long to complete the project.
Mrs. Wina said government will not entertain slow contractors because they were interested in seeing that the projects are completed as quickly as possible.
She has since directed the Ministry of Education to ensure that the project is completed before the end of this year, adding that she did not understand why completion of the project that was started in 2011 had taken so long.
The Vice President said government is trying its best to ensure local contractors were also awarded contracts in the country but said it was very disappointing to note that many local contractors engaged in different government projects had been exhibiting shoddy works.
And when Mrs. Wina visited the construction site, ASESCO Company limited director was not present as he was reported to have travelled to Lusaka.
The vice president is in Northern Province to monitor the progress of government developmental projects.
Thats not right by Hon Sikazwe. The dealay as usual is due to the fact that consulting engineers are not on site earlier than the construction companies. Just like they did with kasama roads the Consulting engineers were engaged a year later in the meanwhile the company went ahead with the works and one is left to wonder why this so . In the absense of the Consulting Engineer how can a company proceed. The Chinese on this project told me they wont start until the above is done so it not the squatters delaying the project. Not having a consulting Engineer early enough has been done deliberately to compromise the quality of works in many Govt projects and someone has to put their foot down
In Zed we had allowed impunity to be the order of the day.
If the settlers are illegal, they are easy to remove and must not be allowed to delay projects consequently pushing costs up unnecessarily.
Act now and bring sanity to the country