The Road Development Agency(RDA) has appealed to local authorities on the Copperbelt to start preparing tender documents for the K5 Billion that has been set aside by the Government to rehabilitate priority roads covering the 72 District in the country.
And Copperbelt Minister Mwansa Mbulakulima has directed Town Clerks and District
Commissioners on the Copperbelt to monitor various contractors engaged by the RDA to
rehabilitate Roads in their localities.
RDA Head Engineer for Designing, Elias Mwape, said Government has set aside K5
billion that would be distributed among the 72 districts in the country to rehabilitate roads that were in a deplorable state and needed immediate attention.
Mr. Mwape said this in Kitwe yesterday when he addressed members of the Provincial
Development Coordinating Committee(PDCC) at Edinburgh hotel.
He said the local authorities had submitted a list of roads they wanted to be worked on urgently and that funds were now ready for the works to begin.
He said the money must be accessed and used by the local authorities within this year.
He said the local authorities will not handle any funds as the monies would be released directly to the contractors that would be engaged.
And Mr. Mbulakulima has challenged Town Clerks and District Commissioners to monitor
rehabilitation works being carried out by most Contractors on the Copperbelt.
Mr. Mbulakulima said there were a number of contractors that have been engaged to work on the roads but the quality of works being done was poor.
He said it was the responsibility of Government Chief Officers to monitor these works to ensure that public and Donor Funds were being used for the intended purpose.
The Minister noted that it was not in order to wait for RDA to take action on erring contractors when the system was in place at local level.
ZANIS