President Edgar Lungu has sent Presidential Affairs Minister Freedom Sikazwe, Disaster Management and Mitigating Unit (DMMU), Road Development Agency (RDA) and defence personnel to go and assess the washed away Lunzua bridge.
The bridge which is about 8 kilometres from Mpulungu town on the Mpulungu-Mbala road (M2) was washed away on Sunday 10th February 2019 following flash floods being experienced in the area.
The flash floods that have taken a toll in the area are a result of the normal to above normal rains experienced in the region.
The team that inspected the bridge yesterday morning comprised Ministry of Defence Permanent Secretary Sturdy Mwale, DMMU National Coordinator Chanda Kabwe, Northern Province Permanent Secretary Elias Kamanga, Housing and Infrastructure Development Permanent Secretary Charles Mushota and defence personnel from Zambia army, Zambia Air (ZAF) Force, and Zambia National Service (ZNS).
Speaking shortly after the inspection, Hon. Freedom Sikazwe directed RDA to quickly come up with a budget for the construction of a new bridge and grading of an alternative Isoko road connecting Mpulungu and Mbala.
He said the works need to be done in the shortest possible time to allow road users continue with their economic activities.
He said ” the delegation that was sent here has already decided to put bailey bridges and have already made headway in terms of formulating who is supposed to do what, the role of government now is to look for money”
“The engineer has assured me that before the end of the day he will tell me how long it will take us to make sure that we connect the people of Mpulungu to the rest of the country.”
And DMMU National Coordinator Chanda Kabwe said his office will provide logistical support to engineers on site to ensure the bridge is successfully completed in record time.
It will coordinate all government wings dispatched to work on the bridge and look for neccesary resources required to finish the bridge.
He said ” our response to disaster now has changed, we will respond quickly just like we have done.”
I suspect this is a factoid that the government and allied media are pushing to validate against all odds. When I saw earlier pictures the bridge was OK and people were walking across. What is damaged is the road just before the bridge, as well as further back. Or am I missing something? Waliko na nzelu nuuzyen’koni.
Seriously? Is he a civil engineer? And all that delegation to inspect a collapsed bridge? Just draining our taxes by drawing allowances.
New bridges getting washed away is a positive indication that corruption is at play in these contracts.
Kalok is absolutely right!
The sensationalist description of what happened at that bridge near Mpulungu is totally incorrect: the BRIDGE was NOT “washed away”!
The mediocrity continues…what is a Auto-mechanic certificate holder in dull Lazy Lungu’s office Sikazwe going to assess there…simply look at the sub-base underneath that black tar and the thickness of the tar. infact there is no subbase and there is a water bypass underneath that.
What is there to see? Even me I can assess from just looking at photos what is needed.
These are Lazy Lungu Wasted Years!!!!
Just look at the underlying layers beneath the tarmac! The soil does not look compacted at all. Please this is the worst form of civil engineering and as a result this is what we get, you pay these contractors huge amounts for them to do the job fast which is always of very poor quality then we have to pay them again for repairing the poor works they did. Where is the sense in this?
Bring back Phonix contractors those guys were the best that Zambia ever had!
We have been telling youuuuuu….
Lungu and his gang of looters have set Zambia back many many years….
What is a factoid!
The thickness of the road imwe sivinthu….who makes these roads ai?
And these roads are valued at $1million per kilometer…simply compacted gravel road with a spread of tar on top…no way can that road last 2 years
Lungu’s thin layered cheap contractor roads built with kickback clauses inserted into the contract award.
And someone is there saying let Ronald Chitotela still be going to his office and attend meetings …how can civil servants respect such a man? These are the works of proxy contractor companies owned by ministers who acquire contracts and sell them off to AVIC to do the minimal works on them.
I have been at a road construction site here in SA and they literary dig up a ditch around the critical sections like junctions and bridges and fill it up with trucks and trucks of stones before they finally layer with with tarmac. And if somebody tells me it is a $ million road per km Inwould agree.
But what am seeing here is no where near 1 million dollar per km. This is shoddy as exposwd by the pictures
That road looks so thin. How embarrassing. Who awarded such contracts? Is this why Chitotela is in trouble?
Think 2021 and how such rubbish can injure you.
You know the answers to your questions..NO this is not why Chitotela is in trouble…he is in trouble for something else involving a farm in Makeni that happened in 2016…as I’m typing he is in his office overseeing all these billion dollar projects all because your President sees nothing wrong with that!!
Remnants of corruption resurfacing, you can hide certain things but nature will bring them to the fore. One can look at the thickness of the tarmac and realize that this road cannot last even five years. Chitotela please were have you taken the money?
Imagine how can that road not get washed away …without a concrete or stone subbase as its passing over a bridge…its the same with all roads I have seen on.
They will investigate into silly issues of why Sata’s death certificate has been published but will never ever attempt to undertake investigations into this as they all eat from road contracts scooping up the excess and simply carrying out cosmetic works like in the photo
@Mr.Kudo:there is nothing to think about in 2021 as your Kainde is simply unvotable in 6.5 provinces!!Dont you get tired saying the same things since 2006 while elections simply go against your tribal creature?You told Zambians to think (vote for Kainde) before 2006,2008,2011,2015 and 2016 presidential elections,sadly for you the “cuundu chaitwa” leader were rejected,so what is there to think about HH in 2021?NOTHING,WE HAVE ALREADY DECIDED TO RETAIN PF IN POWER!!!Just discuss the washed away bridge above badala and stop telling us anything about your Kalusa!!
@njimbu sometimes you need to be realistic what comrade Kudos is saying is regardless of one’s blind loyalty there are so many errors that PF are making and at times you really need to be honest with yourself. Before you mudala were even on this site some of us were the staunchest supporters of PF, the Late Great MCS and ECL at the time of his adoption and at the convention in Kabwe. Now what we are seeing is not what we expected whether it’s a case of ministers failure or the man at the top who is ultimately responsible, we will let time tell.
The yellow vests hehehe
biscuit roads
How do you send Freedom Sikazwe who did not even manage to pass grade 12 to do the job of civil engineers? By the way where was hardworking Chitotela? Freedom observed and presented a fake report to the president another useless bridge will be constructed soon that’s PF development.
Am no engineer but that road looks suspiciously thin to me…
@ Oval head, this bridge was constructed in 1970 before you were born, this is road that has supported a lot imports and exports. Hon Chitotela has nothing to do with this please do not running into conclusions but learn the truth and put your facts right.
The bridge looks ok, the problem is the embarkment holding the approach slab that got washed away due to lack of soil retention. The bridge seems like it has no adequate wing walls which would have helped to retain the poor compacted embarkment and to protect this embarkment from the scouring effect of water.
Please Confirm the stability of the bridge foundation, before you declare the bridge as washed away it still looks aligned with the road.
Are we looking at the same photos? Every bridge is supposed to assessed every 5 years am sure RDA has a contingency budget for that but they all eat the money.
Cheap quality Chinese roads, that’s the reason it is washed away
These bridges were constructed way back even before PF came into power. So fellow Zambians, surely, in Godly wisdom…even if its politics, why should you blame every thing on the president who has just come on the scene now
Badala look closely, it is not the bridge that is washed away , lungu only of lungus $1 million/ km road, as thin as a piece of toast…..
Badala look closely, it is not the bridge that is washed away , lungu only another one of lungus $1 million/ km roads, as thin as a piece of toast…..
that road was done during the mmd time by REUBEX construction company.
Fong Kong roads have a short lifespan… nothing new here