Yamfwa Mukanga (right) and Botswana Minister for Transport and
Communications Tshenolo Mabeo (left) during an inspection of Kazungula
Bridge project
THE construction of a temporal Bridge at Kazungula border in Southern Province to facilitate for the construction of a permanent one has reached an advanced with works currently reaching almost the middle of Zambezi River.
In terms of employment created by the end of January this year, 476 people have been employed out of which 405 are local people from both Zambia and Zimbabwe while 71 are foreign nationals.
From the 405 local people employed from the two countries, 168 are from Botswana while 237 are Zambians.
The US$ 161, 961, 304.84 Kazungula Bridge project is being implemented by the Governments of Zambia and Botswana while Daewoo Engineering and Construction Company Limited of South Korea is the contractor.
Kazungula Bridge Project Team Leader Kabamelo Kgoboko said the Zambian portion of the temporal Bridge was currently substantially complete saying similar works would be done soon on the other side of Botswana.
Mr Kgoboko, who comes from Botswana, said the entire temporal bridge would be completed before the end of this year.
He was speaking in Kazungula on Tuesday this week when Finance Deputy Minister Christopher Mvunga inspected the construction works.
“This is 48 per cent of works done so far for the temporal bridge. It is 50 per cent in Zambia and 50 per cent on the Botswana side.
“So far we have covered 344 metres. The permanent bridge will be a 923 metres long facility,” he said.
Mr Kgoboko said the project, which started on December 2014, was expected to employ between 750 and 800 people.
He also said construction works for the Permanent Bridge had started in January this year.
“We have three packages. Package one is the temporal Bridge while package two is the Botswana one stop border facilities.
“The contract was awarded for package two and we expect that works will start in March. Package three is the border facility for Zambia,” he said.
Mr Kgoboko said the current major challenge was the hot weather which was slowing down the works.
“The hot weather requires that we start the works early. We had a number of accidents but we are cautious and we have avoided working in the nigh,” he said.
And Mr Mvunga, who was on a tour of border facilities in Kazungula, was impressed with the progress made so far on the construction of the temporal Bridge.
“The progress is good and as I said, this is a key strategic Bridge from trade facilitation to the movement of goods and people.
“If you look at the trend currently where we are using pontoons at the border, trade is slow and so the Bridge will eliminate that and bring additional benefits in terms of trade and promote intra-trade in Southern Africa,” Mr Mvunga said.
He was also pleasing to see law enforcement agencies such as police, customs and immigration working as one team.
In terms of revenue collected by Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) Kazungula border post, Mr Mvunga said budget for January was K90 million and the station collected K77 million.
“In 2015, the budget was over K700 million and they collected about K900 million, it shows that there is something positive happening,”Mr Mvunga said.
ZRA Commissioner for Customs Services Division Dingani Banda said the new Bridge and one stop border facilities would trade facilitate in Southern Africa.
“We will also have a one stop ost which means we will have extended hours.
“We are currently using pontoons which have challenges but with the Bridge, we expect to be a major boost in terms of trade facilitation in the region,” Mr Banda said.
End
im confused why are Zimbabweans being employed after all the fuss the Zimbabwe government caused in trying to block this bridge….in fact its more expensive now due to the complaints by the zim gov. so the term ‘local’ should only be used for Zambian and Botswana workers….unless its typo for LT
@copperbullets, you are spot on bro, am also wondering as to why they employed Zimbabweans. In fact if Zimbabwe trucks use the same budge, they should be taxed heavily
It is just a very poorly written article with serious errors. You can see that the mention of Zimbabwe was an error. Zimbabwe refused to join this project and caused a lot of delays to the project as a result.
Yes I think the writer made a mistake. The Zimbabweans didn’t want the project so it would be strange to employ them.
NIPA ZAMBIA BAWISHI, APA. PALIBO BWAFYA EVEN FOR STRAIGHTFORWARD THINGS. THE ZIMBABWEAN GOVT REFUSED TO BE PART OF THIS PROJECT. NOW, MY BITTER QUESTION IS WHY SHOULD ZAMBIA AND BOTSWANA START EMPLOYING AT ANY LEVEL OF EXPERTISE FROM ZIMBABWE AS IF THERE’S A SHORTAGE OF SUCH EXPERTISE IN THE PROJECT COUNTRIES? EVEN IF A SHORTAGE HAD TO OCCUR, COMMON SENSE SHOULD PREVAIL TO SEEK EXPERTISE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES EVEN OVERSEAS IF NECESSARY. READING NEWS FROM HOME ALWAYS LEAVES ME STRESSED.
JUST AN OBSERVATION: OUR MINISTER DOESN’T EVEN KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HEALTH AND SAFETY WHILE HIS COUNTERPART IS EXHIBITING PROPER KNOWLEDGE BY WEARING THE REFLECTIVE VEST. COMING FROM SUCH MINISTERIAL BACKGROUND ONE EXPECTS HIM TO POSSESS FULL KNOWLEDGE OF HEALTH AND SAFETY. I AM PRETTY SURE EVEN THOSE OTHERS NOT OBSERVING HEALTH AND SAFETY ARE FROM THE ZAMBIAN SIDE.
Temporal: Of, relating to, or limited by time: a temporal dimension; temporal and spatial boundaries. 2. Of or relating to the material world; worldly: the temporal possessions
Temporary: continuing for a limited amount of time : not permanent—usage
Yes in Zambian English these words are used interchangeably. We rarely use the word temporal in our vocabulary and when it is used just know that it is meant to be temporary. Thanks for the English lesson. Do we have English Spelling and Mental Arithmetic in our curriculum these days. I find it strange when I see people using a calculator when multiplying any number with a ten (10) instead of just adding a zero to the number.
Spelling checks and a simple re-read would have made this article much more palatable and readable. Two paragraphs mention employment of Zambians and Zimbabweans then Zambians and Tswanas from ‘both’ countries. Nearly every paragraph is broken grammatically.
Infrastructure development in Zambia. Why does government bother because people won’t eat the bridge. They would rather cross the Zambezi in their canoes and have the money spent on mealie meal coupons and eat the money. How shallow is this reasoning.
attention!!!! Mr. Kambwili this is what you call real development not those campaign inspired roads you’ve been wasting money on in residential areas. There is real economic value in this bridge and it will help pay back our $6.4 billion nkongole.
MY APPEAL IS: PLEASE, YOU ZAMBIANS WHO LIVE NEAR PLACES WHERE DEVELOPMENTAL PROJECTS ARE TAKING PLACE TO HELP US DIASPORA ZAMBIANS AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES BY TAKING PHOTOS OF SUCH PROJECTS AND POST THEM ON THE INTERNET- ESPECIALLY FACEBOOK, SO THAT WE COULD BE ALSO KEPT ABREAST WITH WHAT IS GOING ON IN ZAMBIA ON A REGULAR BASIS. I AM APPEALING TO PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS BECAUSE OUR MEDIA HOUSES ARE NOT EDUCATED TO THE LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING EVEN SIMPLE THINGS SUCH THE IMPORTANCE OF A TOPICAL IMAGE. SADLY, THEY ALWAYS SHOW THINGS WHICH ARE NOT A TOPIC OF THE SUBJECT. I AM PRETTY SURE THERE ARE ENLIGHTENED ZAMBIANS AROUND PROJECT AREAS TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF IMAGES. I AM HUMBLY ASKING ALL YOU PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS.
NOW, I HAVE JUST READ THE ARTICLE. I DIDN’T KNOW THAT IT IS ONLY AND JUST A TEMPORAL BRIDGE BALESHUPIKANA NAYO. I THOUGHT I WERE A REAL THING. IF BOTSWANA WERE CARRYING THIS PROJECT ALONE THEY WOULD HAVE GONE A LONG WAY TOWARDS FINISHING THE ACTUAL BRIDGE. TSWANAS EVEN WHEN THEY ARE NOT MAINLY EDUCATED BUT ARE VERY EFFICIENT WORKER WITH HIGH QUALITY AND STANDARDS.
Are we going to eat roads and bridges? This is what our beloved president HH has told us to be asking you PF! Any way from my point of view, this is proper development if the rest of my coleagues in UPND dont see it then I dont know how they think, they may as well go to Chainama to have their heads examined.
Are the Zimbabweans that are working on the bridge the exact same individuals who didn’t want to project? There are over 14 million Zimbabweans out there. Lets not generalise as if there are five Zimbabweans out there that didn’t want to project and they are the same 5 that are working on it. I am Zimbabwean, and I’m all for it, because I’m all for progress and connecting African people and businesses, and opening doors for opportunities for African development.