Tanzania, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are planning to construct a 700km 700 metres bridge in an effort to boost trade relations among them.
DRC’s Katanga Province governor Jean-Claude Kazembe said that the bridge to be constructed at Kasenga on the border between Congo and Zambia will cost $85 million.
Upon constructing the bridge it will easy to cross the Luapula River, which is a section of the River Congo.
The Congo River is Africa’s second-longest river. The Luapula forms part of the border between Zambia and the DRC.
Data shows that goods destined for DRC and Zambia account for 35 per cent and 24 per cent respectively of all cargo in transit that pass via the Dar es Salaam Port, hence the need for three countries to foster their trade relations by embarking on joint projects to improve infrastructure.
“So far, we have already held talks with the relevant ministry in Tanzania (the Ministry of Works, Communication and Transport) and they have shown a positive interest in the implementation of the bridge,” Mr Kazembe told journalists yesterday.
According to him, the bridge will ease transportation of people and cargo across the three countries.
He said a Chinese company had completed the first phase of the project’s feasibility study.
“As soon as we finalise talks with Zambia, actual construction will start soon,” he said.
Reporter are you sure this bridge will be 700km long or 700m.
BA LT, “700km bridge”? OR YOU JUST DON’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A KILOMETRE AND A METRE. IN THE FIRST PLACE, BA LT, KILO MEANS 1000 UNITS AND IN THIS CASE 1000 UNIT OF ONE METRE. AND 1000 UNITS OF 1METRE MAKE A KILOMETRE. A KILOMETRE IS ALREADY A VERY LONG BRIDGE. YOU MAYBE TALKING OF A DISTANCE OF LIVINGSTONE TO KAPIRI MPOSHI. WHO CAN PAY FOR THAT BRIDGE? THE LONGEST BRIDGE IN ZAMBIA IS 3KM AND ON TUTA ROAD WHICH CROSSES THE LUAPULA RIVER IN THE BANGWEULU FLOOD PLAINS. NOW, I DATESTAMP WHAT KABIMBA, SAID:
“One of the worst things to have happened in the 21st is the coming in of social media which is distorting the flow of news and the flow of reality and many of the people are unemployed these days and they use the cellphone as pastime. All they do is sit and they look in the…
“ All they do is sit and they look in the air and say what can I write to excite the public. And they sit there for two hours and they post something fake, and because the debaters are unanimous, it becomes difficult to control,”
LT, DO REALLY RESPECT YOUR READERSHIP. IF YOU DID (WHICH I DOUBT), YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN MAKING SURE THAT YOU USE GOOD LANGUAGE BY CHECKING A FEW BASIC THINGS, INCLUDING WHETER WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN MAKE SENSE AT ALL, TYPOS, GRAMMAR, CONTEXT, LOGIC, ETC. YOU CAN’T HAVE ALL TYPES OF ERRORS IN EVERY ARTICLE. IT MEANS YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING, LET ALONE THE READERSHIP.
Hehehehehehehehehehe! Seven hundred KILOMETER bridge! From Chipata to Lusaka!
What has Tanzania got to do with Kasenga and Mwense?
Kabimba hasn’t even finished talking “All they do is sit and they look in the air and say what can I write to excite the public” LT comes up with a gem, ati 700 KM bridge. Although I am almost used to LT fuc!kups this one jolted for a second. It means they don’t do any research, they don’t even utilize spell checkers that comes with most computers. They just sit there punching keyboards and smoking something deadly.
Bauze Peter. LT dont respect their readers
the reporter is dull how can it be 700km coz 700km is from lusaka chipata and beyond
lusaka to chapata is 550km so it is really to lake malawi to make 700km. the longest bridge in the world is 66km
“Upon constructing the bridge it will easy to cross the Luapula River, which is a section of the River Congo.” Are you Sure Luapula river is part of River Congo?
Yes it is. Check wikipedia.
Its not. Unless you didnt learn about tributaries, sources, estuaries and the likes. Saying that, is like saying the Chambeshi river is part of Luapula. The Chambeshi ends in the Bangweulu Swamps from which the Luapula emerges as a new river. The Luapula ends in Lake Mweru and Lualaba River starts from Mweru. The Congo then begins at the junction of the lualaba and Levee rivers. If this was one river it would be the longest river in the world. You could perhaps say Luapula is party of the Congo River systems.
@Pondaiti that very sentence you’ve quoted is so meaningless. Did the LT editor look through it?
Even the Kazungula Bridge which is less than 1 km is costing much more. The info we get in Zambia, can end up making us among the highly misinformed people in the world.
The LT editor was asleep @ the wheel again! Unfortunately this is now becoming the norm, spoiling what is generally good sniffing out of stories.
A 700Km bridge would run from Kitwe to Choma or something, utterly impossible…
Just to put things in perspective, according to WorldAtlas.com, the longest Bridge in the World is 165 km long. It’s a RAILWAY Bridge in China, and cost US$8.5million. (i.e. US$51,500 per km) In 2011 it entered the Guinness Book of World records.
The World’s longest ROAD Bridge is 55km long. It’s in Thailand and cost US$1Billion. (i.e. 18.2 million per km).
So, ba LT please check your figures again. 700km??. Even 70km would still be questionable to merely cross Luapula.
This will be the longest bridge in the world
Did I read this correctly? 700km bridge? And costing only $85m??No, it can’t be. The Kazungula bridge cost $162m
Zambian valuations are a rip off…imagine $350 million for a brige road to Kalabo!!
Natambako fye reporters go back to school. Pls muletu mweneshamo.nempemfu shikeshibe ati pa zed tapaba ulusovo. Nafwebene.
Thank god for that reasonable valuation …if it was by Zambian PF govt that quote would have been $200million.
Army engineers can build a temporary bridge there for next to nothing.
I would prefer an airport to Congo. Certain countries do not need bridges visiting them.
This term I am doing my Journalism and Digital Media Storytelling units, on my MA, I shall come and work at Lusakatimes to help with the typos….am sure the copy won’t be any better!
Again its a good and strong economic indicator this plan.
I don’t think the bridge is meant to improve trade relations as reported. It is meant to boost trade and not trade relations
Lmao. It should boost trade. Ba LT here is a very good editor for your publication, Mr JJ Phiri!
People don’t just blame LT made an error and if you check below they have corrected it. The 700km you are talking about is cancelled and below they have made a correction of 700m. So what s there to yap yap??