Thursday, March 28, 2024

President Lungu takes a jab at HH as he commissions a road in Southern Province

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President Lungu during the Commissioning of the Button  Road
President Lungu during the Commissioning of the Button Road

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has advised the people of Southern Province to ignore critics of the Bottom road project as it is meant to spur growth in the area.

Mr Lungu said the Bottom road was a strategic road that could spur economic development in the Province due to the numerous opportunities for diversification in areas of agriculture and tourism.

“I know of economists who question these road projects saying are ‘Zambians going to eat roads’. I am not an economist but I surely know that a good road network is key to unlocking our potential in other sectors of our economy to spur growth,” he said.

The President was speaking in Sinazeze yesterday during the ground breaking ceremony of the bottom road lot two project.

Lot two of the project being undertaken by Stefanutti Stocks Zambia Limited, includes upgrading to bituminous standard of 108 kilometres of gravel from Chaboboma to Sinazeze via Sinazongwe District at a cost of K592 million.

On lot one of the same project, 132 kilometres of road will be upgraded to bituminous standard by next year and so far the project is 70 percent complete.

A warm welcome greeted the President, who arrived at the site just before 12:00 hours, as Sinazongwe residents could not hide their joy to see the project, which would take two years to be complete, officially commencing.

Mr Lungu said he had turned a blind eye to the critics of his developmental programmes as such people were enemies of progress.

He said the Bottom road, which was part of the Link Zambia 8000 project, would aid fish mongers and crocodile farmers, among other entrepreneurs to conduct their business effectively.

He cautioned Stefanutti Stocks Zambia Limited to ensure that the project was executed within the stipulated time frame owing to the colossal capital investment.

The Head of State also directed that preference be given to the local people in the sub contracting process as per Government policy.

“I wish to implore the Minister of Transport and the Road Development Agency (RDA) chief executive officer to ensure that Zambian contractors with a good track record are sub-contrracted on this project. I further direct that local people here, be employed for both skilled and unskilled positions where they posses necessary skills and qualifications,” he said.

At the same occasion, Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Minister Yamfwa Mukanga said his Ministry would closely monitor the road works to ensure quality workmanship.

“This is an important project for our people and we will ensure quality workmanship so that it is delivered on time to enhance value for money,” he said.

Sinazongwe Member of Parliament (MP) Richwell Siamunene said critics of the PF were ashamed to see the project progressing as promised.

Mr Siamunene, who is also Defence Minister, said he decided to work with the PF because he was confident that the Bottom road project would materialise.

Southern Province Minister Nathaniel Mubukwanu said the project would improve that movement of goods and people in the area during the rainy season.

He said Sinazongwe was home to many fish and crocodile farmers and the upgrade of the Bottom road would enhance tourism and farming activities.

Senior Chief Sinazongwe commended the PF administration for prioritising the construction of the Bottom road.

“Your Excellency, we are very happy that after 50 years of inactivity, the PF Government has commenced this project which will connect the three districts and make us live as one people,” he said.

The remarks of the traditional leader were echoed by his counterpart Chief Chipepo who gave a vote of thanks.

After delivering his speech, President Lungu took time to test the road equipment before departing the site for Maamba.

The President was accompanied by Finance Deputy Minister Christopher Mvunga and his State House counterpart Mulenga Sata and special assistant for political affairs Kaizer Zulu, among other senior Government officials.

President Lungu later proceeded to a brief tour of the 300 Mega Watts (MW) thermal plant currently under construction at Maamba Collieries Limited.

Mr Lungu said the quick commissioning of the plant would go a long way in alleviating the country’s dependence on hydro generated electricity.

Phase one of the plant would be commissioned this year while the second phase would be commissioned early next year.

58 COMMENTS

    • @Nostradam
      Your cousin Mulenga Sata has been promoted te? He used to ‘work’ for Bana Tasila now he’s touring na bashi Tasila

    • Ours is a simplistic president. He has no clue about economic management. His is a govt made simple and plays too much to the gallery. Edgar is the worst president we have had and when he said he had no vision, he meant it

    • For the first time, I am questioning the calibre of our president. How could he honestly sink so low by not understanding development. I refer to his quote ”the project, would aid FISH MONGERS and…”. Whilst fish is depleting Zambia and instead of encouraging fish farming, the president may think fish mongers are like investors in Sinazeze/Sinazongwe.

  1. At least the president is busy inspecting developmental projects which will spur economic growth in the country in future. To lower prices of commodities and exchange rate without putting in place measures that will see them remain lower is useless. People need to know that we need to grow our economy to see the benefits we want. Yapping and insults are all negative to development . Sorry upnd try 2021 because we are not ready to change a worki@g govt.

    • It would have been fair and eye opening to those citizens if the President had told them that the money was borrowed on their behalf and they must work hard to rear plenty crocodiles and catch more fish to pay the loan. The confession that he has no economic acumen is perfectly in order since the results are there for all to see.

    • Queen the project began at the dawn of independence.It is time the valley people were remembered for the sacrifices they made to give us power.Going there now,i felt embarassed to realise how little developed the place is.To imagine many were displaced with the promise of compesation and yet most parts have no idea of power.With power cuts,How could that be?No wonder the energz shortages.Their god nyaminyami must be mad with us.The road therefore is a good start .Maybe their river god may show mercy so we dont have to turn to the sun god.

    • @ Queen its all got to do with half hearted willingness on the part of governments present and past. There is a long history to the bottom road and lots of money has been stolen and yet to be stolen as more pockets will be lined! Each government has used the bottom road project for political expediency and not as government duty to service the valley people! Ask any 50 years or more elder from the valley and they will spell out the bottom road saga!

  2. MCS was very passionate about the bottom road. It was in his campaign messages since the birth of PF. He’d be glad his dream has come true although I don’t know why it has taken 5 years. Every good road is a good thing to have, just like having a new car though real life teaches us that there are priorities and wise choices we have to make.

    • Ba Queen! I think you are missing a point. Which one of the two is better: one was plans to have a project started or the one who does the actual financing and hence deployments of the so called adopted project? Am I to fail an exam simply because the answer I was to use was once given by myself proclaimed old enemy despite its being an model answer? You could have the best ideas on earth, but if you do not implement them, you are just as good as one who doesn’t even have ideas at all. So what if they were theoretically started by the MMD or even UNIP government? Are we using the same funds MMD left for it somewhere in the bank? In fact, it’s time we moved away from the idea of personalizing projects that are national. This project is not only for PF or UNIP, neither is it only for UPND…

    • @Queen you are right. Sata redirected the money for Bottom Road to do those crazy large projects of his in his beloved Mpika. Lungu is just posturing and campaigning and he knows that the road will not be finished by 2016. Commissioning a project by PF is just posturing, not real commitment.

  3. Should that “JAB” not read as “JIBE” in the headline?
    On another note. Not a good idea to have Mvunga on the same entourage as Lungu. You can imagine them hitting the drinks like there is no tomorrow on the way back.

  4. We know that PF is broke.This is another scheme to woo votes .The people of southern province are clever they know that.These crooks are not reliable.Any way we are watching closely.

    • @ SIDO MARK
      There you go you tribalist! We are watching and if its the game you want, wait and see. The Northern Circuit and Copala power will be felt in 2016, we have not forgotten what you did in January 2015.

  5. A working, selfless, unifying President and Government at work! Indeed, actions speak LOUDER than words! Go my President Lungu, Go PF abantu balemona your commitment to alleviate poverty and develop our nation. Some economist will surely commit suicide come 2016!

    • @Seleni Tubombeko. Copperbelt results will shock you. The tide has changed. We need someone who can manage the economy and not just commission roads that will never finish. Sata left the Kitwe Chingola Dual carriage way with on about 20Km undone. It is still not finished. And by the way, a prudent use of resources will entail that certain capital projects are shelved because we have run out of money and the economy is in free fall. Is this wise?

    • @JKL; Wait and see. We are still eager to Kolopa you. You may be right that the tide had change, especially that your gifted loser has continued enhancing his passion to lose elections. I will continue voting from Ndola where I always cast my wining vote for PF! [email protected]!

    • Ati kolopa……kolopa what?

      You go ahead and kolopa the dead kwacha; high unemployment; kolopa high cost of living; include the HIPC debt status Lungu has put Zambia in…..!!!

      These roads are NOT a gift from Lungu or PF. They are being constructed using kaloba Euro bonds. Simple…..it’s huge nkongole that Lungu and his minions will not pay but the same people now being hoodwinked.

  6. President lungu can please officiate the opening of at least one factory, even one that adds value to our products, even just an assembly plant pleeze shuwa. From that bloated lazy cabinet, not one of them can come up with a plan shuwa?

  7. 1 km of road costing K5.5m and you are proud of yourselves….when is this recklessness and unaccountablity going to end…its no wonder aircrafts are breaking down the lazy bum can not stay put in State House!!

  8. Comment:Reminds me of one Roosevelt, a US president at one time who told off the so called ‘economists’ and said he had no faith in their theories. I seriously don’t think there is connection between being a good economist and wealth. There are outstanding economists who are not wealthy! wealth comes in different ways, either inheritance, hard work, theft or some people go to sang-o mas! So don’t relate people’s wealth to being good economists, ask them how they got their riches.

  9. Yet another milestone for the best government that ever ruled Zambia. Other luminaries and pretenders will die of envy and jealousy. Go ECL GO.

  10. Unbelievable. 592 million??? Can he fully explain in detail where this money is coming from and how exactly it will paid back. In a family, you cannot have a father bring a benz or bmw home when the house has no food, no electricity, no hope. Visitors do not even want to come or contribute towards the well being of that house. Do not get excited about things that are not fully explained. ZAMBIANS MUST LEARN TO ALWAYS QUESTION. THIS IS OUR MONEY HE IS MISUSING AND OUR FUTURE HE IS DESTROYING

  11. k5.5 million one kilometer this is stealing money. No wonder PF is busy focusing on roads coz of the kickbacks. These projects nobody is refusing but lets do them without stealing. ASPHALT LTD is main company behind this project and mulenga sata is shareholder. ECL is more concerned about campaigning dats why he has no time to sit in state house and work.
    He is very petty why always attack pipo dat cant answer coz you enjoy immunity

    • That is right. If they focus on factories, how will they steal? Factories run on real time transactions so no stealing, how ever with rds just inflate the prices, give contracts corruptly and pocket the difference. Every one in PF is corrupt. That is why none of them are condemning the plunder. Only chikwanda eluded to the corruption when he was protecting him self when he presented rotten budget. He said the main cause of the rotten budget deficit was the high cost of rds.

  12. Good news!
    Bottom Road is being constructed 4 years late and 2X the budgeted cost. And Lungu is very proud of it even though it was started by MMD and him and PF had nothing to do with it except stealing some of the money for by-elections.
    Now Jamesoni says this will help fish and crocodile production!
    Somebody must tell this F00L that water is needed for this and incompetent ZESCO PF cardres have finished the water in Kariba dam!

  13. UPND,when are you ever going to grow up in politics? You re even condenming road projects in your tongaland.Your way of politicking is truly under 5. Applaud or appraise where due.Dont criticise anything and everything even to an extent of supporting illegal acts of Masebo. Your politics is full of amatures and raw politicians.YOU cant dislodge PF like that,this time ECL will whip you convincingly.Your turn to rule is not anytime soon,maybe 2051.Hala ECL!

  14. Its common knowledge 90% of Africa’s investors in Africa go to South Africa which has already a splendid solid infrastructure such as the road networks.

    Today most of the major roads in SA , Mozambique and Botswana are not only being upgraded to bituminous but to 6 lanes.

    The road net work in little Swaziland looks like Europe.

    • And most Swazis are living in desperate poverty with no jobs and dying from HIV/AIDS because there is no money for medicines!

      All the money went on building these roads!

  15. There is government money being wasted on the So Called “Bursaries Committee & Horizon School Scholarship” here in Lusaka. There is a Cartel of Turkish people that are fighting the Turkish Government and are raising money to fund their operations in Turkey through schools in the Third world. They are taking the Zambian Students to Turkey and start teaching them the Gulen Movement whose leader, a Turkish Imam who is in exile in the USA as a the focal point. The Turkish embassy here in Zambia knows all this data and have stayed clear of the activities of this Cartel. Let us cut down on our local politics(PF Vs UPND) and follow up this group for the safety of our children and for good diplomatic relationship with the Turkish Govt. There is no private business that can educate you free…

  16. @Gift

    Do you think if UPND plant 15 cadres to shout VODKA and other Zambianwatchdog insults like they have been doing all years can influence our vote in favor of an economist in 2016?

    They are just wasting their time, shamwali.

  17. Why is government borrowing money to upgrade roads and not schools and hospitals. yes we do need a good road network and a good railway network for potential development.
    If government gives these projects to our own civil engineers at the university of Zambia as their graduate projects, the government would be saving a lot of hard needed currency.
    We have architectural students who can plan our cities and rural areas, we have engineers who build roads, bridges, dams and these could be involved in our housing sector.
    Zambia’s population has doubled since independence and very little has been done since that time. The urban sector has remained stagnant, no new houses, no new general hospitals, just a number of clinics here and there. No schools, have built since the cha cha cha days -…

  18. Ok Ba Lungu continue commissioning road projects where they will never vote for you as you neglect your loyal sttrongholds where roads leading to potentially rich agricultural areas remain deplorable! “Before looking for new customers,satisfy the existing ones otherwise you loose them”. The apathy you saw in January elections in PF strongholds and the rejection you got as PF where you are commissioning roads should have been an eye opener of how to deliver on your campaign promises of 2011.

    • Ulicipuba.. That is not PF fund. It is govt. If anyone favours one part of the country, there will be no good. WAKE UP.. Stop wearing a suit with a ragged trousers or torn shoes.

  19. Ba UPND are bitter because they have sensed that PF is doing alot for the country and automatically they will bounce back in power in 2016.Alot of lies they are telling to discredit Lungu.ECL is being appreciated country wide and yesterday the people of Sinazongwe celebrated because of the good road given to them.Now they want to trivialise it by telling lies that Lungu was booed.They are wrong chaps.

  20. Without vision or economic skills, where is he leading Zambia? What he is doing right up now is not his job. That is the work of the ministry of transport, where is that minister??

  21. Thousands of Sinazongwe residents including chiefs gathered to appreciate what the PF govt is doing for the Zambians.The so called rich leaders can not even point at anything developmental that they have done for the people in this area.A vote for cow dung in 2016 is a wasted vote indeed.

  22. Ichalo Lifupa..looks like you are the one who needs your calibre questioned. Do you think that fish mongering is not an economic activity? If you have heard about depleted fish, this can be stooped by restocking and sensitising our people to use proper fishing methods, or to invest in fish farming. The road is meant to encourage good things.
    So all the people in the picture are potential voters? Now I can understand the worry of UPND bloggers, the bubble is bursting.

  23. Lungu has good leadership qualities.In Maammba he condemned tribalism.Some shallow minded rich politician was condemning PF in Kasama that they made a mistake to make some one from Western province Veep .The people of western should chase away this tribalistic leader when he tries to solicit for votes in 2016.We should only support a leader who will unite the country.

  24. Siamunene well done ! Many years after you have gone,us the people of the valley will remember you for your visionary leadership.You know what is good for your people at the right time.Forget about the haters because they are well known by Zambians who are very good at analyzing issues objectively.

  25. I wonder those people keeping saying ECL is wasting huge sums of TAX Payers money. You don’t want GRZ to use that money on road projects and you still don’t want them to use borrowed money, how do you expect them to work without cash? You want ECL to use his personal money to construct roads sure? What is the use of money collected as tax then? How do you put a factory at Nabwalya Chiwombo where there is no road network. You put roads first then other developmental projects will follow later. Give credit where it is due.

  26. Is Siamunene a PF member now? Or is he praising PF government because he is eating? By the way what is the condition of the military officers who were in the helicopter that crashed after taking Siamunene to his home village a few days ago? (I read the story on Zambian Watchdog).
    On the whole President Lungu and PF will be remembered by the people in that area if the project will take off and completed. The tragedy of most zambian economists is that they rely a lot on theory. In the 1980s many economists including some from North-Western Province argued that tarring the Mutanda-Chavuma highway was a waste of money because nothing came from there. However, it took a bold move by President Chiluba to start tarring that road. The people are happy and business is booming.

  27. When reading this speech I see the position of government being a support of business and innovation creating the NECESSARY ENABLING ENVIRONMENT Government must indeed create an enabling environment and If Innovation and Entrepreneurship grows businesses from industrials to Services grows and people refine and venture big moving aware from traditional GOV lead Business initiatives creating the cadre of entrepreneurship making individuals and communities better as a result more JOBS will be created
    The policy adjustment being called in the speech are very GOOD and a best way to grow Zambia to 8% GDP in the near term

    I like also the statements and thinking behind…

  28. health care tourism it should also be extended to Education as opposed to the REVERSE cycle We need also to mention and tap in the potential we have in Professional services and healthy minds in accounting legal and financial services That is another source of SAVINGS We need transformation as in the speech be competitive in price and Standards

    THE SPEECH IS VERY GOOD ANYTHING ELSE IS TACTICAL TO FOLLOW

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