CONSTRUCTION of Kazungula Bridge has been halted after Chilibwe Mining Company filed an injunction to restrain contractors from excavating quarry on its land for the project.
The US$259.3 million Bridge, across the Zambezi River was being undertaken by Zambia and Botswana with financial assistance from Japan International Co-operation Agency and the African Development Bank.
Southern Province Minister Nathaniel Mubukwanu told his Finance counterpart Alexander Chikwanda in Choma yesterday that the mining firm filed the injunction early this week to halt quarrying activities on its alleged piece of land.
“Although we have seen significant progress on this project, on a sad note two days ago this mining company filed an injunction to stop the contractors from quarrying on its land, “he said.
Mr Mubukwanu, who was speaking when Mr Chikwanda called on him at his office, said the injunction would delay the construction pace of the long-awaited Bridge.
Mr Chikwanda, however said Government was committed to seeing the Bridge complete to enhance trade between Zambia and its neighbouring countries.
The minister said the project was important in facilitating movement of products, creating jobs and increasing opportunities for regional trade activities.
He said, although the project was engrossed with some challenges prior to its construction, Zambia and Botswana would ensure the Bridge was completed.
Mr Chikwanda later commissioned newly built three by two semi-detached housing blocks at a cost of K2.91 million for workers at Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) in Choma.
He urged the ZRA officers to double their efforts to enhance revenue collection to ensure the country’s continued growth momentum and trajectory.
ZRA governing board chairperson Mwila Lumbwe said, apart from the mandate to collect taxes, the institution was also modernising its infrastructure.
All the way to choma to commission 3 houses.people lets be serious
Awe sure Ba Chikwanda! Let also commission the 18 three bed roomed flats I’ve built in Kitwe – this will enhance his profile better than the hose chroma midadadas!
Ba PF minister in suit inspecting bridge, Botswana minister dressed appropriately like rest. Bwafya.
Imagine a Zambia in which K5 buys £1 and K3 buys $1, a Zambia in which education is well funded to avoid unnecessary stoppages and strikes, a Zambia in which all citizens enjoy freedoms without aligning themselves to a ruling party, a Zambia free of corruption at all levels of government, a Zambia where doing business is as easy as riding a bicycle, a Zambia where tribal hatred will be outlawed………..These are not mere imaginations because under the Late Mwanawasa Zambia had achieved 85% of them.
Well folks now is the time to stop imagining, and turn your imagination into reality by voting UPND and HH team to deliver all your wishes and imaginations.
2016 vote UPND and the HH team.
what? 2.9 M for three houses, Zambians know how to steal my goodness. this is day light robbery to Zambian people. Show us the houses.
You would think these airheads would have proper permits before using a quarry. Quarries do not grow like mushrooms. Somebody must have found the site, planned it and got permits from ZEMA. What gives the PF govt the right to use somebody’s quarry without compensation when they are sharing the Eurobonds among their supporters?
@BuckTeethLungu, this is a clear case of black mail using formal institutuions. The project is in critical phase and someone files an injunction to stall a national project. There is noway the contractor could have commenced quarrying at the site without requisite excavation permits….
Buck Teeth Lungu – The contractor is Daewoo of South Korea not the PF Government. How can the government undertake quarrying activities on behalf of the contractor. Pure ignorance – on your part.
Bwana Minister Meet your colleagues at Works and Justice Ministries and the Attorney General and insure that the Injunction or whatever it is, is resolved like yesterday. Please we cannot afford this wish-wash attitude to strategic projects. If I were you, I would not drink a glass of my favorite whiskey before any inhibitions are resolved on this project. I am sure you don’t know the Japanese and their due care for project time. We have walked this path before, on this same project and the consequences were ghastly …..We cannot continue anymore using a pontoon on that strategic and economic route. Now go and run fast….
Read the all story carefully and comment.kazungula and choma are in the same province.Administrative issues in southern province is done in choma.Think
Guys check properly the picture , is the water you seeing not enough to generate electricity?
Thats a file picture ba manager naimwe… yaba!
Yes, plenty of water there!
But to make electricity both WATER and BRAINS are required ingredients.
Obviously one of these is missing in this PF Government!
Manager. That’s Zambezi River before the Victoria falls. And it’s just a profile old picture not now naimwe guys.
Cadres don’t think they don’t even know a file picture.
NIPA ZAMBIA, PA CIRCUS. BANGALA FYA ABABOMFI BA CALO. THE PAPERS THEY SIGN DO THEY EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY SIGN. ANYWAY ONE OF THE FORMER BANK GOVERNORS TOLD ZAMBIA ON MEDIA THAT HE JUST SIGNS SOME OF THE CHECKS WITHOUT READING THROUGH. NOT EVEN A DAY PASSES WITHOUT HEARING SOME CORRUPTION RELATED NEWS IN OUR COUNTRY, SURE.
Some high profile officcer could have pocketted the money that was meant to pay the owners of the quarry as per this new Zambian culture as usual.The Vultures have come to roast.
what is laughable is that this silly SP Minister Nathaniel Mubukwanu expect us to be sympathetic with them…when the question we should be asking is what happened to the funds set as for quarry…simply pay the Chilibwe Mining Co. their dues plus legal expenses; this project is well funded.
Corruption has worsened and is now officially ingrained in Zambia to the extend that everyone is looking for a cut in everything instead of getting the best value for money deal.
This is crazy how do you start quarrying without verifying who owns the land. Ridiculous!!!
What about on the side of the border Botswana is No Quarry also? and You mean the whole project can halt pending court juridiction? why not try a stay of execution?
@ iyakubotswana
It is not as simply as building your uncle’s mud hut where by if there are snakes on one termite hill site you simply move to the next….you need planning and logistics, you need permits as well in Botswana.
There’s no quarry on the Botswana side. All the aggregate (sand, gravel, stone, cement) materials come from Zambia.
Gov’t can forcibly buy that land for pittance legally for necessary developments…..just extend the bridge through the mine!
Utterly dull ministers no wonder our economy is in a downward spiral…development or not you have no right to steal quarry on someone else’s property; this has become frequent especially on road construction; these costs are built in the project costs so when it came to supply of quarry the figure was zero…there are villagers if rural areas who have lost land because of these contractors.
Although the Lazy Bum Edgar has banned overseas travel for his cronnies as he claimed they have increased on unnecessary domestic travel…in all honesty who budgeted for that ridiculous $10 million house of prayer since the bum noticed it in October….why are you forcing people who are neither religious nor Christians to pay for such folly when schools have no books or hospitals have no medicine,…
*….. announced it in October..
Comment: Ooops!
Not surprising! Even the owner of the plot (Mr Phiri) where the bridge is being constructed is not yet compansated. It will be more embarrassing when he gets injunction too.It appears there are wrong people managing affairs for this bridge.
Mr Phiri owns the portion of the river? And you think you can manage the affairs of the bridge better? With that ignorance!!
@ Ricky Bob It is you that is not serious. The bridge starts from land into the river. Mr Phiri’s becons are there covering the area the bridge starts from. If you are from RDA or bridge project, please just compensate people. That land is on title. You do not just grab it from someone who legally owns it. You may soon be replaced off the project. You seem to be too chick fir nothing. The country cannot suffer because if few people failing to do their job.
This bridge is a critical national project….. how can you quarry on land that is not yours GRZ should have sorted this out a long time Chilibwe Mining Company arent just like the villagers whom GRZ easily cast off or steal land from …..we`ll soon find that our friends in botswana will finish their section of the bridge , zambia will be a laughing stock of the SADC community
At the moment work is far ahead on the zambian side. Botswana has its own problems. The nail contractor DAEW are in the process of relocating their main site office from Botswana to Zambia due to problems there.
There must be a way to make this Mining Company suffer. Can we cut their electricity ( to help with load shedding in the arrear? Good legal cover). Block access to the main road, ban them from using the bridge on completion…………push the CEO into the water!!!
Anyway, is it not legally correct that gov’t can forcible buy land from owners if it is required by the gov’t for developments!
for the record the state has the power and right to acquire any land for use if its for the benefit of the state. there is no free hold title in zambia. president holds all land on behalf of the state. read before you pass uninformed comments people.
Ba Paul, you are right, but the same law demand that compansation be paid. These affected people are not refusing, all they want is to be compansated as the law states. Imagine it is your land that people want to grab without compansation!
Its funny. It shows a lack of focused reasoning on the part of our planners and technocrats. They should have known where all the needed material was going to come from and if it needed agreeing with other parties they should have done this before hand and cleared all the expected hurdles on the way. WHY NOW????? It has also become a tendency with these Asian construction companies after charging the country huge sums of money for construction works they gush for cheaper and sub standard materials from the local streams i.e. water (free), sand (free), sticks and logs (free). For the houses in Choma see how they have destroyed the area on the muyobe- Macha bridge (especially KINGS). Bwana Minister you have sub standard houses to commission in choma because of the behavior of the…
well when it comes to government you can not compel them to pay the compensation. it will be done when sufficient resources are found. in this instance the greater good for the majority of Zambian’s that will be accessing that bridge out weighs by far the needs of that mining company, which from the looks of it had not even been mining the same resource.if it was farm land that was in constant use i would have been more sympathetic but to me it seems these are just opportunistic individuals looking to make a quick buck. they will get their money but least they forget, don’t push bomb too far unless your hands are 100% clean. the tax man might end up not turning the blind eye he has always done to your tax short comings etc.
planning for all aggregates to be used on projects is done…