Some stakeholders in Northwestern province have called for the amendment of the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) Act no. 13 of 2002 to ensure effective ways of monitoring road construction and maintenance.
Addressing a stakeholder’s consultative meeting organized by NRFA, Solwezi Town Clerk Mbulo Seke said NRFA should consider engaging local councils in their decisions, especially in maintainence of township roads.
Mr Seke said the local council does not have enough funds to upgrade all township road to bituminous standard as it only relies on funds collected through rates payable to the council.
He said Solwezi district has no township roads and therefore, NRFA, Road Development Agency (RDA) and the council must work together to see how they can improve the township road network in the district.
And a stakeholder Rodgers Manjomba said NRFA should work closely with the Road Development Agency to ensure that the money collected from NRFA is put to good use.
Mr Manjomba said NRFA must also ensure that contractors working on all road projects are monitored to ensure they deliver the best services and complete the projects on time.
Another Solwezi resident, Philgrace Mukisha, said NRFA must be given the mandate to not only fund road works but also supervise and suspend contracts of underperforming contractors.
Meanwhile, NRFA programming, monitoring and evaluation manager, Alinani Msisya called on various stakeholders in the province to make submissions towards the review of the NRFA Act No. 13 of 2002 in order to address challenges faced by the Agency due to limitations and conflicts in the Act.
Mr Msisya said the current Act is 15 years old and parts of the legislation are no longer relevant hence the need to update the Act.
Mr Msisya said an updated NRFA Act will also serve as a great tool to sustain the road sector and preserve the road asset.
Hope the local MPs were present. The MPs should immediately take these concerns and resolutions to parliament.
Makes sense and cash from Toll gates can be properly utilized.
Sensible
Councils had Roads departments whose mandate among others was to maintain township roads. You then wonder why Sata and his pafwaka party centralized everything under RDA.
nonsense NRFA RDA RATSA NCC all have interlocking mandates , hence the need to evaluate the relevancy of these bodies and disband some