A technical team from China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Company will next month visit Zambia over the planned commuter train system for Lusaka Province and other projects of interest.
The team will engage with technocrats, relevant Ministries and institutions.
Company Deputy General Manager Min Weijing says the firm is willing to increase its support to infrastructure development projects in Zambia.
Mr. Min was speaking when he met Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo who toured China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Company Head Offices in Chengdu City of China.
And Mr. Lusambo who is in China attending the 17th Western China International Fair said the Zambian Government is concerned about the current congestion of roads in Lusaka Province and that plans are underway to address the issue in a comprehensive manner.
Mr. Lusambo said in addition to the on-going improvement of the road network, the Lusaka Provincial administration have targeted the implementation of a commuter railway system that will decongest traffic in the province.
He observed that Lusaka is growing at a fast rate and that there is need for timely intervention in terms of modern transport infrastructure that will facilitate efficient movement of people and goods.
CREEC is a world class engineering survey and design company that has undertaken various infrastructure projects across the African continent including in the road, rail and energy sectors.
In Zambia, CREEC has been responsible for the design and survey works on the Mansa to Pensulo and Kafue to Chililabombwe transmission lines.
The company has 60 years experience in designing high speed railway lines and is a subsidiary of China Railway Group Limited.
The company’s Deputy General Manager accepted Mr. Lusambo’s invitation to visit Zambia with a technical team that could engage with technocrats from Lusaka Province and relevant Ministries and institutions to get more details on the planned commuter train system for Lusaka Province and other projects of interest.
The company’s follow up visit to Zambia is scheduled for mid October 2018.
Speaking later in an interview with Sichuan Daily and Sichuan News Network, Mr. Lusambo noted that his delegation’s attendance of the 17th Western China International Fair in Sichuan Province had provided a platform to strengthen relations between Lusaka and Sichuan Provinces.
He further said the visit enabled fruitful networking meetings with the Sichuan Provincial leadership and business entities that expressed interest to enhance cooperation with Lusaka Province and Zambia in general.
They are coming to assess how to steal our money…….
Our own engineers lead by Pro. Clive Chirwa, made simple and locally affordable tram plan for Lusaka. He looked presidential, he ended up at Zambian Gorogota!!!
– There goes another $1 Billion to our debt for a non-viable white elephant project & here come 200,000 Chinese immigrants. Don’t complain when they start shooting you in your butto.cks
– PF00Lish Govt can’t think beyond perpetual borrowing
Our youth need factories, ginneries, food processing plants, fertilizer plants etc, not a fancy tram which will require subsidies to survive.
Haven’t we produced enough engineers from UNZA’s school of engineering to do this kind of work?
Zambian engineers are fake, they have failed to design water drainage in Lusaka and other parts of Zambia, they have also failed to design better roads to lessen vehicles on some roads. Look at Cairo road for example city engineers don’t know what to do. Now talk of designing the rail system, which engineer can do that? Round abouts are thing of the past, but our fake engineers are busy designing them. Look at the fake round abouts at east park mall even a small truck can’t go round without the tires getting onto the curbs. Shame on our engineers. Come on guys allow these Chinese engineers to do their work. Yes we will lose money and respect simply because we don’t know anything. People in Zambia go school to earn good money by having the papers but not help the country develop. As soon…
As soon as one gets a qualification they want to just sit and supervise. Shame on our professionals.
Well done Zambia! Let’s develop this! It will stand no chance! I mean every demon trying to make our country backward and ungovernable! God bless ZAMBIA!
wapya munzi.thieving…….kikikikikikikik
This government has misplaced priorities.
All they want is to overprice this contract to the Chinese, and chew money.
This reckless borrowing to finance useless projects must stop.
We all know these are the schemes PF use to steal money.
HH has no clue! He wants to stop road-making when he comes to power! Let him come to power in Namwala! You have no clue what it takes to develop a country! Just as clueless as CHILDISH.
Hahaha you can see the thug and dumb fool that Bowman is , his thick mind cant tell him whats going on. The guy looks empty. What did we do to deserve such crap as our leaders honestly. Bowman of all people!!!!!!!!!!
It is UNELECTABLE!
he is a scam.wait and see….lol
And you wonder why we don’t have Engineers who are valued in this country…you send dull Bowman to negotiate a deal when the people he is brokering a deal with are paying for his food, shopping and accommodation. Those engineers will come here do feasibility study for their state company then go to China Bank with an overpriced project cost for a loan to Zambian govt.
You have no clue because the Tribal Party is set at attacking progress and anything that is done by a non-Tonga. Just put your butt down and wait. You will see, little hooligan and bully, from the organisation of the wicked and the tribals.
This is what our own learned and internationally recognized professor Chirwa wanted to start. Unfortunately we all raised against him and almost persecuted to the point of death. But he is now implementing the same ideas in Botswana, France, Spain etc. Now, I hear the Chinese have bought his plan from to come and implement in Zambia at a greater cost. very sad indeed, Zambians..!
Fake Professor Musungule rose against him and fabricated crimes he never committed.
Ubu bwena ebukopo. Atase.
Like Dung brain?
Our own engineers lack imagination and innovation. Then there is the money loaned to the project that the foreign engineers are bringing with them.
Chamanyazi.
I see a lot of misinformation about this matter . Where are tenders documents for the design of the commuter train so that Zambian Engineers can respond and participate fairly. Where is the support from Government of Zambia to local company. Where is the competition in tendering process to drive down the costs. Why are the Americans, British , South African, Malawian engineers etc not given a chance too. Typical of PF , they go to CHINA to one company with a blank cheque for CHINA to name the price. The cost will be 10 times above the norm. But again if you are Zambian Engineer , the bloke Zambian government will never pay you in time after you start your work. While Chinese Engineer’s payment is guaranteed from his government.
More Chinese loans! Why such insatiable appetite for Chinese loans? And where are the Zambian Engineers?UNZA has been producing Engineers from 1966.They have to be seen to be working and so they continue borrowing and don’t care how it will be paid back. Zambia on the way to crucifixion.
HAjealousy Hagain! He is “UNVOTABLE!”
As I said on another thread, you can start by building a rail line next to the present one but running from Kafue through Lusaka to up north as far as populations who commute to Lusaka for work. This line can be used for train passenger commute to and from Lusaka from north to south.
This will breath life into ZR and can be built by Zambian engineers with little outside help.
This can cater for all communities north and south of Lusaka who drive to work.
Traffic congestion will be eased atleast by 1/4.
Zambia is changing, changing for better. Thank GOD for a good visionary leader in our very hard-working Lungu.
Ethiopia has just commissioned recently a commuter train in Addis costing $450m .
I guess they don’t have an HATRIBES HANEGATIVE HORGANISATION there!
The only preoccupation that our Zambian politicians have is who is likely to be their successor (and it is strange that there doesn’t seem to be succession planning in place). If an indigenous Zambian mobilized this kind of idea and resource base he would be frustrated because he would be perceived to be “campaigning to become …[fill in the blanks]”. It is very, very shameful!!! Oh – and it is not even funny any more.
Prof. Clive Chirwa provided the government with everything they needed to set up an underground/ local train but he was not given any support. Trust me Prof is one of the most brilliant engineers this country has ever produced and I hope he can be engaged on this one….
Iyo ni goodu hygiene! Light railway system will decongest the city and liberate people to travel to other parts of the city faster. Look at what the Chinese did in Ethiopia. Such a system will trasform the city.
I bet you there is not a single Minister on the Chinese delegation, only technocrats. Us with our nonsense have the whole of a Minister grinning and towering over the Chinese with nothing technical to say. It is so embarrassing. Ceremonies instead of just letting the technocrats do their work.
@Spaka- I support the North to South concept, especially the North because of the distance- a high speed train would make sense than a City train.
Yes it will even be cheaper and Zambian engineers can take a lead on this.
Even South from Kafue, there is a lot of commuter traffic to work in Lusaka. A commuter train would make sense north and south through Lusaka. It will be easier to implement and by building the second parallel rail we would be future proffing ZR for or later extensions.
Also mostly shanty compounds line the line of rail north and south of lusaka so compulsory purchase orders will be cheaper.
The UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA and COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY where are your Engineers? EIZ where are you? we cant plan what is affordable to ourselves and minimize the expenses. Gentle men let us put our brains together and we can do it. Let all Engineers concerned sale their plans and see the one which is affordable to our economy.
The technology is already there and has been used in the mines for donkeys years. You just need a bit of metal for the tracks, loads of concrete for bridges and platforms to be above street level, lots of power from China-ZESCO, control center with some computers. Make sure they are driverless but with conductors to go manual if required. Sounds simple? That’s because it is simple, we just need to have the will and guts to do it.
So Zambian engineers with their show off way of putting Eng before thier name (eg Eng Peter Banda) can not do this for us Zambians, I siggest we just close UNZA school of Engineering because they are all useless
The biggest problem with Zambia is its politicians: Because they do not know how to do something, they assume that nobody in Zambia can do it. It is the Zambian Engineers who have helped developed Botswana, Namibia, South Africa….even projects in Europe BUT Zambian Governments (even MMD) think that we can not do. Do you know that the first ever all black craw to land at Jan Smat {OR Tambo) airport was Zambian.
This country has truly gone to the dogs….how can you send a guy like Bowman to negotiate such deals…..He know nothing but monkey politics…
Engineers are not witchdoctors to build things without resources. Float tenders then zambian engineers will rise to the occussion. Stop displaying your illiterance about engineering.
This won’t even materialise as bowman is to junior to negotiate such deals. They are just trying to keep him busy taking him around and making him feel important.
Where are the Zambian engineers?
The problem is that Zambian engineers like working with Mr Smith and Mr Smith does not pay the 100,000 Kwacha on time. But at least when the Chinesse ask for nudes and touch the katundu, veli veli nice
Where are Zambian engineers?These cluless politicians driven by corruption awe are destroying the nation.We need Zambian engineers to do something also.Just give them a task n c what they can do.enough is enough of theories in these institutions
One think about PF , when the set their mind to do something they do it. They don’t just sit and talk. I Don’t mind the debt as long as we see such development. Yes we need to pay for development . It just doesn’t come..
Was there a tender advertised for the work? Or an Expression of Interest to survey the train transportation network for Lusaka? Corruption is written all over this activity. How are things being done these days? Is there no works ministry or what’s going on here?
I can understand if they are setting up a plant to build our own locomotives and trailing our engineers to come do the job. Like in the time of Kaunda, but the Plunder Front are even plundering our own peoples brains. Borrow and build to increase output into to buy from the people you are borrowing from.