THE Road Development Agency (RDA) and Red Lion Construction Company have signed a K33.4 billion contract to rehabilitate more than 23 kilometres of urban roads in Chingola.
RDA head of public relations Loyce Saili said in a statement yesterday that a total of 15 urban roads covering 23.35 kilometres were expected to benefit from the contract.
Ms Saili said the proposed rehabilitation works include pothole patching, reconstruction, asphalt wearing course, surface dressing, drainage and road markings.
She said the contractor had already set up camp in Chingola and would commence works as soon as the supervising consultants had been appointed.
“The successful consultant is expected to supervise the project as well as carry out a comprehensive design review of the proposed technical intervention, together with an estimate of quantities,” she said.
Ms Saili said besides forming vital linkages in the urban road network in Chingola, the RDA saw the need to rehabilitate the roads, which were taking more traffic than their original design capacity.
The roads to be rehabilitated include Lumumba, Mukuba, Maina Soko, Riverside Drive, Nile, Chilubi, Kabompo, Cental Street, Kasompe and Buntungwa.
Ms Saili said the RDA was engaging Government to secure more funding to work on other urban roads in Kitwe, Luanshya and Mufulira.
She was hopeful the Government would find the money to carry out all the necessary works on other urban roads in the affected towns.
RDA had decided to start with Chingola because it was necessary that it started from somewhere before moving to other towns.
[Times of Zambia]
Perhaps we should also look into long term mechanisms to ensure the roads are maintained. We might as well install some toll booths on some of the busy roads. This will earn some money for road maintenance.
Good move but what about the patching of Chiwempala Road. And please make sure that you bring in a good contractor and not like what Phoenix Materials did on Lulamba road it was very dissapointing for a local contractor to claim such shoddy works.
# 1 Mr Capitalist. Please be reminded that currently road users have been paying a lot of taxes that must have been used on these same roads but the issue is we dont know where this money has been going e.g fuel levy road tax etc i dont think introducing some toll booths is the solution its a day light rip-off bro!
“The successful consultant is expected to supervise the project as well as carry out a comprehensive design review of the proposed technical intervention, together with an estimate of quantities,” she said.
End Quote
HOW CAN A TENDER BE AWARDED WHEN THE RDA DOES NOT EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH MATERIALS ARE NEEDED TO DO ALL THE WORK WITH PERCENTAGE FOR UNEXPECTED ISSUES?
THIS GOVERNMENT JUST GIVES AWAY MONEY TO ANYBODY WITHOUT DETAIL FOR THE TAXPAYERS.
When the mob boss gives a nod and a wink, the vultures move in for the kill – looting public coffers with impunity. Why hasn’t RB and his troupe reacted with the same haste to Dora Siliya’s dossier as he has road rehabilitation? There’s a stench of urea in the air.
Loyce Saili, the problem I have is that there is too much corruption in road construction and such news does not excite me. I’m sure these roads will fall apart in a few months. Where is Red Lion Construction from? Do they have a track record? Can someone please explain to me why the Luanshya-Kafulafuta Road developed pot holes within nine months of commissioning? Please dont talk about the story of changing specifications because the engineers should have known the implications. If we get to the root cause then we will make progress
We’re a gaggle of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your website offered us with valuable information to work on. You’ve performed a formidable process and our whole community can be thankful to you.