Housing and Infrastructure Development Minister Ronald Chitotela says government has commissioned a team of engineers to assess the structure integrity of all roads and bridges across the country.
Mr. Chitotela says most of the roads and bridges where constructed way back in the UNIP era using cheap material which is why the country has started experiencing a situation where some roads and bridges are being washed away.
He says government is however committed to ensuring that any possible calamities that might happen due to the collapse of bridges and roads in any parts of the country are avoided.
Speaking during the Questions for Oral Answer in Parliament Mr. Chitotela says government is reconstructing old bridges and roads using high quality material.\n\nMr. Chitotela has since urged citizens to help protect and guard infrastructure across the Country”
I am not getting anything from you, in my mind you are on suspension technically
Do they even know how to assess roads? How long will this project take? How much will it cost?
This is just another scheme to loot public money.
The fact is most of the bad roads were constructed during PF tenure. Why not design and pay for quality roads?
This man Chitotela is a discredited currency, and anything he says will not hold value.
Me too
He is a thief….lol
Lungu is bewitched by people from luapula, he sees nothing wrong with what chitotela has done but he arrests chimase and grabs all those properties for him,,,
Believe me this is not baroste bees witchcraft from sesheke, this is lightning witchcraft from luapula its leaves people confused
CHITOTELA MUST GO. CHITOTELA MUST GO. CHITOTELA MUST GO. CHITOTELA MUST GO . CHITOTELA MUST GO. If he stays it meana president Lungu tolerates corruption and soon will crowned high priest of corruption. CHITOTELA MUST GO. We can afford to lose him same way we lost Kambwili. CHITOTELA MUST GO.
What was all the drama about ACC, if we may ask. When did an arrested minister remain in control of government department/s? Surely this country is becoming a joke.
@Ndobo, I think its Chitotela who is son of a witch.
Eric’s prosecution is political, they thought he will take Bahati constituency.
Six out of ten (6/10) …
Mr. Chitotela says most of the roads and bridges where constructed way back in the UNIP era using cheap material which is why the country has started experiencing a situation where some roads and bridges are being washed away.
So disrespectful to unip after giving him free education , it’s almost 30 years since unip left power .
When you are awarding yoursellves all these road contracts via your proxy brief case companies then sell the contracts to Chinks…you never have any quality control checks …now that things are falling apart that when you look to technocrats; all this shambles is due to corruption that you and your govt represent…the fact that he is issuing statements whilst under investigation says it all. This man will even attend cabinet meetings ….what a shame!!
This all so stupid from this highly corrupt Minister …. the government Engineers should have long assessed all the so called bridges in the country and have this on a data base with the risk levels assigned based on the life span and other indicators … and if you have travelled this country like myself you will realize that most of these are not even technically bridges they are actually like a water pass we in fact have few bridges on our roads. But Meanwhile fire this corrupt animal Sata already fired it
He is just shooting himself in the foot. If UNIP roads and bridges have lasted over 40 years, then they are really strong compare to PF biscuit roads
This move by a corrupt and stup1d minister is way too late. Besides it’s not the old roads giving way but the newly constructed roads by PF thugs.
I can understand the crumbling of UNIP era infrastructure because it has served long enough and has now passed it’s use by dares. But for the newly constructed roads falling apart within months of completion, it’s Lungu and his thugs fault pure and simple.
Infact a close friend of mine from Congo who knows Kapyongo, Mwewa and Chitotela very well told me that these guys are Congolese by birth and he has their childhood photos to prove it.
So guys open your eyes. What happened in MMD when congolese chaps were co-opted in Chilba s government is happening under Lungu again.
Am in same postition. I think LT just being humorous by bringing this story here but you have hurt people’s feelings by telling us this man is working
I knew it! UNIP was constructing bridges using cheap material
@maganizo
Don’t insult UNIP, UNIP bridges were left safe, even UNZA was left safe, look at what PF has done with the Chinese its a mess
Ndobo, you have missed the point Maganizo has said the opposite here. Read between the lines and your will get the message from Maganizo, thinking person. Great one, cheap material and now it is time for expensive materials. One bridge now will be equal to a million dollars at the minimum.
Pompwe Iwe, your boss stole from a widow as well, so bonse muli ba pompwe
Send bees in parliament, how can they be listening to that Chitole
They have no shame to even mention UNIP …they seriously expect a bridge to last 40 years without maintenance
Very funny. So UNIP bridges were cheap when materials were expensive but PF bridges are expensive when materials are readily available/affordable
Iwe Chimbwi @maganizo you know nothing. It’s PF which is constructing bridges and roads only lasting for weeks in order to corruptly pocket the money.
I am disappointed that fellow MPs can allow this guy speak in parliament. He is a criminal. Lungu is cant act because he fears losing the volts from the north having lost Chishimba, Kalaba and thinks these will regroup to halt him. He is thus a coward and puts his interest above that of Zambians. Thus fight against corruption is lip service. The head fish itself is rotten.
Seriously what votes can Chitotela master?The decision not to fire him is now biting Lungu,if he had fired this functional illiterate and minister the f00l would have been quiet,but now he is farting in public and embarrassing Lungu himself.PF does not even need opposition, if they stood against frogs people would vote for the frogs…
For example the river crossing on the Chipata to Lundazi Road over the Msuzi River near Lundazi was a corrugated metal culvert structure built over forty years ago. A design flood is the worst flood that can be expected in a given period such as a 10 year period, 100 year period, 1000 year period or a 10,000 year period. The longer the design flood period is, the more expensive and reliable the culvert is. The corrugated metal culvert is placed across the river crossing and soil is placed above it up to the road level. The culvert must be able to pass the flood or if it overtops the culvert the soil above it will be washed away. The washing away of the culvert means that an inadequate or wrong design flood was used.
Cont’d.What is required, therefore, is not an inspection of culverts but a review of the design floods used for the culverts. Bridges are usually constructed of concrete or steel or both and can usually withstand overtopping, The design flood for the Itezhitezhi is a 10,000 year flood. Unless it is physical deterioration of the bridge you cannot just look at a bridge and say the bridge is not properly designed without first looking at the design calculations.
Go back to school, Scouring of underneath foundation and soil liquefaction are major causes of failure, destabilizing the whole structure, in the end you get loss of equilibrium, then collapse.
The flood prediction is for sizing of the structure, overtopping is just an inconvenience or a dis function.overtopping can only slide the deck, get ya facts right Senior fimofimo Engineer
@Ghostdog. I am not talking about concrete/steel bridges which in most cases can withstand an overtopping. I am talking about culverts which is essentially like an earth dam where the soil placed on top of the pipes is washed away by overtopping. What you are talking about is true for concrete bridges not for culverts. This is why the Itezhitezhi dam, an earth dam cannot withstand overtopping like a culvert while the Kariba Dam a concrete dam can survive an overtopping ( like a concrete bridge). The fundamentals in engineering do not change. We still learn about Newtons laws like to every action there is a reaction.
For example the Concrete bridge in Lunzua is still intact but the soil on the abutment on the sides has been washed away because the bridge could NOT pass all the flood waters resulting on the road next to it being washed away but the bridge has remained intact. Check on the photo.
It is unfortunate that a government minister can refer to government projects as UNIP projects. These projects are designed by government engineers who serve under the government of the day. They are not designed by party cadres. It is not the UNIP government that told engineers to use cheap materials. If anything the quality of roads may have been compromised NOW because of contractors not following specications because of rampant corruption. It is not uncommon to see potholes develop after a few years.
But those are new roads and bridges being washed away badala, if anything the old bridge remains and the new road leading up to the bridge is washed away like we saw just the other day …….
Why do PF lie like this ??? Are the pictures and videos we see all fake ???
UNIP ERA – bridges constructed out of “cheap material” but was away 55 years later
PF Era – 2011 to date – Bridges constructed last less than a rainy season.
What a joke.
Visual Inspection only wont do you any good. you need to predict the remaining life in these structures, using some artificial intelligence techniques.
Now lets see who will remain in the constituted team.
What are those AI techniques. I thought AI is still being developed.
I have heard the President condemning violence from both his party and the UPND which is good. But the bottom line is that he has the key to stop this violence. And also Police need to be retrained on how to control masses – you never start controlling crowds by starting with force – NO NO NO. HH also has to improve by condemning violence in his party ,so far he just condemns the other side’s violence. And we also have people who need to be counselled – look at Sunday Chandas’ tone – always confrontational, this breeds fertile ground for our directionless youth to be fighting…
Cheap bridge collapsing after 50 years?!!!
Kwena eh
Please leave KK and his team out of this misrule.
First I think it is immoral for you to even be making statements in the media about government activities when there is a Permanent Secretary in the ministry who is responsible for such activities. Needless to say the readers are cringing in their shoes to read articles of you talking about the welfare of the country when you are implicated in massive corruption. Its a real shame for the president to exercise double standards by firing this arrogant chap call Chimense while retaining you as minister when the crimes are exactly the same. ECL has really disappointed many a citizen by his double standard approach to these issues which begs alot of questions about his involvement hence the favoritism. He has showed poor if not total lack of leadership in addressing national issue ranging from…
This moronic minister doesn’t know what he is talking about from UNIP time up to now how many years has passed Mr. Chitotela says most of the roads and bridges where constructed way back in the UNIP era using cheap material which is why the country has started experiencing a situation where some roads and bridges are being washed away.mumbwa road was constructed few years ago and how many times it has been repaired?
Chitotela himself has no “structural integrity”.
Nauseating.
This clown is dead to conscience and has no shame that he wakes every morning to go to the office. What authority to discharge ministerial functions with the corruption allegations hanging over his head???? And the appointing authority has no qualms with the state of affairs. This administration is SICK!! Where is the moral campus of the appointing authority??? His reaction gives credence to complicity in the corruption allegations. He is indeed KOSWE MUMPOTO.
Checked is bio on parliament website, I’m shocked. Non of these say he’s qualified enough to say what he said about infrastruture.BBA General (Production Management), BBA Marketing, Cert. in Finance and Accounting, Cert. in Purchasing and Supply Development And Intl. Relations, Dip. in Business Management and Administration, Dip. in Marketing, Grade 12, Master’s Degree In Trade. Either he’s a very knowledgeable guy or he’s full of $hit.
If anyone knows all his alma mater please share.
The more reason one has to take leave when facing serious charges in court. It affects concentration, clearly the answer given was not well researched. He has chosen to give a ‘political response.’
PF ministers and supporters of PF in general are either just dull, or mentally ill or both because this level fye takwaba. Blaming UNIP???????
Zambians should not be subjected to a thief’s opinion, a thief belongs to a jail. PF government should not use a thief to speak to the nation on national matters. Morality matters here, PF gets it wrong all the time.
Bwana as far as Zambians are aware you are suspended, so please dont speak ask your PS to represent you. I beg my brother.
So this is what it means to have more money in your pocket? you look for the grandest of all projects and start printing money?
constructed way back in the UNIP era using “cheap” material…… he needs to retracts this statement.
He is not even ashamed to see his nakedness. He needs to cover himself morally. The best he has to do is to resign on moral grounds. His nudity has been exposed to the public. A sane person is supposed to do a right thing and cover himself. His face and speech is full of nothing but shame. The little dignity that he has should be concealed by doing the right thing, resignation. He should not pretend to hide under the canopy of ignorance. He has been exposed as a shameless thief who is not supposed to be in public. That is the problem of having thieves whose wrongdoings sneers their conscious. If his conscious is upright, he is not even supposed to address the nation. Insoni ebuntu!!!!!
At least UNIP used chep materials which can last for over 50 years than this PF materials which is lasting only for 2 months
Some people are witches for real. You kill. You attend the funeral of your victim and even mourn. Shyness is God’s given quality of character. These are instances where one can prove that witches are real or blacks are lower whites.
Thats the problem when everything in a country is viewed from perspective of politics because you get so screwed that you miss the mark. All the comments above are coming from frustrated retirees who have squandered their pensions on girl friends, or are disillusioned, or lazy chaps who only go for what appears to be gold but when they get it they find its all ashes.
I expected comments like, “Mr. Chitotela, thats a good move, but why constitute individual enginners instead of using institutions like the Institution of Zambia (EIZ)”. Thats what we call smart contributions. Its true you have been brainwashed by your ka HH.
Cheap roads after all these years???
Please get off my face, what type of an animal are you with no remorse. you are going come rain or sunshine,
if you can support this current regime then you my friend are either uneducated or too short sighted this could be as well be the most useless regime ever why did Michael Chilufya Sata have to die he wasn’t perfect quite alright but you could see what he was trying to achieve