The Ministry of Local Government has ordered the demolition of the newly constructed Alick Nkhata flyover bridge in Lusaka.
Local Government Permanent Secretary Ed Chomba says the flyover bridge is a death trap and lacks the basic minimum standards of a bridge.
Bishop Chomba wondered which Zambian engineers approved such a structure and called for seriousness in the engineering sector.
He told ZNBC News that the ministry has now resolved that the flyover bridge must be demolished.
But Project Engineer Terence Mukula said the flyover bridge meets set out standards.
Mr. Mukula said the bridge is not meant for high-speed drivers and urged motorists to slow down.
Comedy and showmanship as always, under this PF government.
Classic PF, they do not know whether they are moving , backwards od sideways. They have a clueless and visionless leader. What was the cost of construction, what will be the cost of demolition, and what will be the cost of rebuilding and what will be the cut for State House?
Bishop Chomba be careful Zambian engineers are busy examining your zipper. Very soon they will tell the whole nation about a small something syndrome in you
Yaba….Zambian Engineers and Zambian govt at work plus Chinese Mafia….Zambia the real Africa..nothing surprises me anymore under PF
Now which Engineering school did these guys go to…a bridge meant for slow moving cars…the bridge is meant to carry the weight not the speed…if a car has gross weight of 2000 lbs…does it mean it will be half its weight when its driven slowly….Zambia please
So more than 80% of the money for the bridge was stolen no wonder you have 48 houses without the actual owner
More money wasted again this is the tip of the shambles of the incompetent Lungu government, all this would have red flagged at design phase but die to corruption this is the end result!
Firstly I don’t think that was a govt project, but a private project by NAPSA. However, govt should still have had an interest since they allowed them to alter a public road. The council is supposed to have been the major inspectors and responsible for approving the design and specs for the entire project.
Despite the project being private, public funds were used belonging to retirees I believe, and an enquiry should be done and those found wanting charged.
The Ministry, Council, RDA, and all concerned should equally take an interest in the eyesore coming up at Makeni/Chawama junctions, Arcades and other round abouts in the city. I suspect some of these will be condemned once complete.
The bridge does look narrow, but that in itself does not mean it is not safe.
How did this PS determine that the bridge was not safe?
How did the engineers determine that the bridge was safe?
Bridges are designed by engineers, designs are approved by engineers and constructed under the supervision of engineers. So leave politicians out of this one.
If it was incompetence send the chaps involved back to school. If it was negligence, take action to deregister involved engineers and seek legal redress against them.
Zambian engineers are very good. We have been designing bigger things in other countries. Look at infrastructure such as the Kazungula bridge, Zambian engineers are there to ensure the Koreans do the correct work.
Last week I driver that bridge and I wondered what in the world that was. I agree with Permanent Secretary, it must be demolished. But we didn’t need to wait this long to know that it was poor workmanship. Surely it’s death trap.
LT show us the bridge.
Is the bridge in Namwala?
The picture says it all they think hard hats are a fashion statement without wearing hi-vis jacket just useless kaponyas
This has nothing to do with politics it just the usual Zambian mediocrity being exhibited. How can an engineer say a bridge in such a public place is meant for slow vehicles only monga ni thatched bridge kumunzi
Lol. The PS says its a bridge and the engineer says it is an XXXL speed hump!!! Very expensive comedy this!
KikikiKi @Cyclones … you have made my day, its not a bridge but a very large speed hump
Benny Hill government. Today a mere PS tomorrow a call boy next week a cadre the month after a Minister or “Engineer”. God help us all.Where was this comedian before during and after this Chinese/Indian? – con job was done?
Ati thatched bridge. Lol
What provisions have been made to ensure the drivers can not go fast.
Better the bridge comes down before someone goes flying over excuse the pun.
This would be laughable but the truth is that it is laughable. Now this Project Engineer Terence Mukula (is it the corruption prone timber ) , us this when he has realised that the bridge is not meant for fast driving cars? Why now? Before he was exposed did he warn anybody about slowing down on the bridge?
Was the bridge designed for pedestrians but Engineer Mukula tree modified it for motor vehicles
Cost of building add the cost of demolition and clearing then add the economic cost of the wasted money incurred on that bridge plus that of demolition. Who was inspecting the construction and approving payment for every stage of completion? Now that it is complete that is when you spot the errors, the people who were commissioning it a few days ago couldn’t see that too?. If that bridge is not evidence enough for corruption then I don’t know what corruption looks like.
A rather baffling response by the project engineer. He seems to be admitting the bridge is of substandard construction. His solution – just drive slowly whilst on iti. Unbelievable!
Can this fly over bridge be left exclusively for the use of the so called president and his motorcade. Please he is special and deserves his own fly over bridge. We recommend that the motorcade drives very fast for security reasons.
I drove over that bridge. First and foremost it is too steep either way. Worse still it is too short and it is impossible to see vehicle down the bridge unless u are right on top. It is so short such that if there is a breakdown on the other side of the bridge, it does not give driver much time to react positively. It should be demolished immediately. This is what happens when serious jobs are given to cadres. With all interim certifications and only to end up with such poor quality product is not only shocking but is also scandalous and injurious to the nation.
Is it a structural or a geometric problem? if its geometric its possible to figure out ways of rectifying the problem.Lack of experience with these so called young Engineers,I know this boy.
I can predict a structural failure too,those abrupt changes in the slope are inducing impacts that might result into fatigue failure, the cyclic loads maybe way too much on those steel supports.
Yaba!
I.M.F IS NOT PAYING, & THESE CORRUPT GUNDWANE’S NEED CASH, HENCE THIS ISSUE CROPPING UP!
Zambia needs Firing Squad for people who abuse office, & plunder state resources. How can a whole bridge get constructed, without anyone noticing there’s a problem??
Obviously these P.F Kawalala’z know what they are up to.
THEN YOU HAVE IGNORANT P.F CADRES WISHING FOR AN ILLEGAL THIRD TERM FOR THEIR CR00KED G0D J0N4 MUKULA??
What is the opportunity cost of the money used constructing that bridge coupled with demolition costs had it been used in other developmental projects such as solar energy? You Clueless and directionless government come 2021 el scorpio will be ready for you.
Pure incompetence! The usual mediocrity we are accustomed to. Several people in my interaction sphere complained about the bridge. I agreed with their views only after I drove on it. The PS’s view is somehow misplaced. He should have been aware about this before now. The fact that he doesn’t know the engineer that approved it, in my view is incompetent. Him and the government are the employers and contract awarders. But if they can’t know who is responsible for what, how do they expect to keep employees (contractors) accountable and the job to be done to expected standard. If they even had a standard! Smh!
If this can happen right in the capital city what more those billions of dollars wasted on over priced infrastructure and roads.
Exactly …….at every stage of construction some one from GRZ or roads department should be approving.
They all need to be sacked…..
kwena aba ba fikalor ba pf, corruption at it’s core. a few of them got money and they didn’t give a ratsass about nothing else. they ran to the back and didn’t even look at the blueprint nothing
it’s mediocrity such as this that dan was eluding to and they ignored everything else and just zoomed in on homos.
you’ve dumbo lusabo all over the place like he knows what’s going on.
chansoni no bulanda sana.
I swear to god you guys who are able to vote, please get rid of these guys. I know hh isn’t the panacea for Zambia, but I am 100000% sure he’ll do better than these guys. they’ve failed. the Zambians gave them a chance, they’ve failed miserably
This suggests that Chomba wasn’t backstopping the construction. What has he been reporting to his minister all along? President Lungu fire PS Chomba. The directors involved must be dropped, fired or transferred to ministry of religion or traditional chiefs or better still surrender them to ps public service. Incompetence full stop!
Where was Chomba and his office all this time the bridge was being constructed? These people are clueless and they were nowhere to inspect the work and suddenly there is something that is supposed to be a bridge and it does not meet the standards. Indeed everything has gone to the dogs and there is need for serious cleansing , we cannot afford to be wasting resources in this manner!
Ohhhhh….I was wondering where the PF cader
Njimbu had gone to ????
He was given the job as chief designer and engineer of that bridge.
Apparently at design stage freedom sikazwe wanted a toll plaza at the top where you have to stop and pay , then glide down in neutral to save fuel , hence it is not meant for fast driving.
Zambian citizen is the design engineer who was supposed to put the toll gate at the top……but was too busy commenting about homos on LT and rest of the bridge finished.
He thinks he can still build the toll plaza at the top…..
@Spaka. Zambian Citizen is genuine and very smart at damage control but when things are so bad you won’t see him on LT. Actually I used to think Jimbu is Freedom Sikazwe but was wrong. whenever he gets his payments, he disappears!
Why are Zambians complaining?
President J0na Kad@nsa Mukula Chagwa is in State House & such bridges & Dangerous substandard structures are a norm in Jack Compound Chawama where J0na hails from.
Any wonder his wife went to the U.S & brought back rubbish /scrap metal aka Fire engines? The Standards in Kombonis are what you are seeing being erected & built all over Zambia despite overinflated invoices by King Kadansa Jona Mukula Chagwa!
@Sunday Chanda, we know you are preparing a statement on the cause for all this confusion and waste of money. We get it already. It is the fault of HH.
Let us all agree on one thing: The PF regime/Lungu is the most incompetent regime/ leader in the world. Who approved the bridge? How was it audited? What where the contract terms? How many people where involved in a 10% commission? Really corrupt, incompetent and criminal negligence. But a post-motem on the bridge will not be done. But why are Zambians waiting to vote PF/ him out in 2021? It should have been yesterday or even tomorrow!
Dr. Chomba was transferred to that ministry few months ago when the project about to complete. I dont know the reason u guys are attacking him just because he has informed us how dangerous the bridge can to the people
The PF Party is the party of “ineptocracy”. Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.
Engineer Mukula will go to jail if that thing kills someone! You don’t design a bridge that will be at the mercy of motorists to slow down! You design a bridge to make sure that even a f00l will be safe! Your engineering designs should be f00lproof!
Ba LT what happened to pictures if the week editions? you stopped publishing pictures of the week editions why? your photo journalists are sleeping. So use your smart phones take pictures and make photo news like you used to do.
After months of punishing us and making us to use rat paths via that university which is literary in the road, we now been told whatever was been done behind those iron curtains is nothing but
..
Don’t just demolish, you need a public inquiry to find who approved the planning, how you have reached this decision and who did the checks before this bridge was commissioned. There should be a whole chain of people responsible for this. Find them and arrest for misuse of public funds.
Nothing will be done , no accountability in lungus GRZ by purposeful intention of lungu himself…….lungu knows if he makes people accountable he will be found out as the most incompetent…
in Zambia we only have maintenance engineers the only engineer worth his salt is Prof Clive Chirwa not these imitations
I would suggest we turn it into a MONUMENT and name it Mukula flyover bridge.
DO WE GET A REFUND
BUKALA BWANDI – kikikikikikikikikikiki
What a shame on Engineers! They could not even take a leaf from the gently sloping Kamwala, Post office and Zesco flyover bridges. The practicing license of the site engineer of that flyover must be suspended
This is a very wrong time to be named Mukula and be associated with such incompetence.
Waiting to hear that it’s HH behind this..lol Ba pf tebanobe
Seriously I used that thing a few days ago its like you are using an escalator, I advice people with high blood pressure not to use it. Am actually shocked it took the pf government to close that road all this time for such a disastrous project. This was indeed a total waste of money and precious time, someone has to explain.
PUKKI- Thanks for your timely warning, i have blood pressure and will try by all means to avoid that thing, mukula flyover bridge.
“..PS Chomba orders demolition….”
THEN
“….the ministry has resolved that the flyover bridge must be demolished…”
leave the bridge kwakalinglinga unless ngati nikukabulonga you would have been ziiiii
Vya kulola vye. And the song goes ‘ah ye dununa iwe dununa reverse’ meanwhile Sunday Chanda will be like ‘these are the enemies of progress we know their sponsors and this tribal party is so desperate to go in state house. This kind of desperation should be condemned by all well meaning Zambians.’
If traffic has to slow down on the bridge there will be more vehicles on it at a given time making the load on the bridge heavier.
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This matter is beyond political affiliations but rather a national disaster in waiting as such we should be concerned objectively..
The Consulting Engineering Firm that designed and supervised this Bridge must be taken to task for gross incompetence. Its time we dealt with the root cause of the problem and that is “design failure”.
Thanks to the New PS of that ministry for bringing out this matter to the public because many who drive on this bridge had been unable to voice out for fear of victimization or otherwise.
The issue is very political mudala it is part of what PF sonta to when they are discussing developmental projects done by the PF.
The Question is can Chomba give us the Engineering Audit report, and by which consulting Engineering firm that found the bridge is fault in design or physical deviation from the design. Who is Chomba? how did he do this Engineering audit on the bridge? what parameters is he looking at?
If you have driven over this bridge you will not be asking these questions ……..
They should put a banner that reads :Mukula Fly Over Bridge drive at your own risk kkkkk PF teinobe they have gobbled the iwe wara man.
MCS, fly over bridges, nearly 40 years down the line, the bridges are still a marvel.
What do you Expect from drivers when you call it a flyover bridge.
It is amazing that in Zambia, the erudite are quiet about the goings on in this country. Politics and running of this country has been left into the hands ingnoramus. I believe we have people in Zambia who are well informed and qualified to run the affairs of this country competently, and alas, all are sitting on the terraces hoping “Everything is gonna be alright”
Hold on here…this engineer says the bridge is not meant for fast moving vehicles….what kind of engineering nonsense is that??
XXXL speed hump
Here we go again…more money out of your pockets n you love it as you want the dununa reverse chaps in power till 2026. Stop wailing n instead rejoice for more money out of you pockets.
Bushe Mukula te timber eyo Tasila Chagwa ale exporter illegally to China? I wonder how Mukula ends up building bridges, Tasila please, export iyo yaoneka mwana wa kwitu.
Listen to this:’the bridge is not meant for high speed drivers.drivers are urged to slow down. ”
This is insane. This goes to show just how incompetent your engineers are. However, it’s good at least someone is thinking and has disagreed.