The Road Development Agency (RDA) has started the construction and upgrading of roads in various parts of Lusaka at a cost of over K125 billion.
RDA Board Chairperson Walusiku Lisulo said the road stretches totaling to over 100 kilometres were aimed at creating access to new residential areas the city.
Mr. Walusiku said this after he and other RDA board members conducted a tour of roads that are under construction in Lusaka today.
He said the roads under construction will also serve as ring roads in a bid to decongest traffic in the city and enable easy access to residential areas.
Mr. Lisulo said the agency will also extend road works to other parts of the country in an effort to enhance economic activities.
He expressed satisfaction with the road works but urged the road contractors to ensure appropriate road specifications were met to achieve the 20 years road design life span.
Mr. Lisulo said the RDA would however require more funding to continue with its road construction and maintenance programmes throughout the country.
He said RDA was also intending to improve rural roads in order to enhance agriculture and tourism activities in rural areas.
Meanwhile, RDA Director Erasmus Chilundika has disclosed that the agency will require about K27 billion to repair road infrastructure that was damaged by the rains in the just ended rain season.
Mr. Chilundika said the RDA has since asked the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) to consider providing funds towards the repair of the damaged infrastructure in some parts of the country.
He said once the funds were ready, the agency would ensure that works to repair the damaged infrastructure commence before the on beginning of the 2009/2010 rain season.
Among the selected roads that the RDA board members toured are Chalala, Nyumba Yanga, State Lodge and Twin Palm roads. Others are Kafue Bypass, Dedan Kimathi, Mungwi, Njolwe and Kasupe.
ZANIS
I support developmental projects such as this one
Don’t just repair roads, make them sustainable for 3-4 years. The climate in Zambia is very predicatable so there’s no need to be blaming rains all the time!
A good start, this is what we need to hear more about. Development projects actually being implemented.
#2 Dark Knight, they should actually make them sustainable for up to 8 to 10 years to avoid wasting resources on repairs year in year out……
nice campaign move for 2011
I dont see how its upgrade if they use pikies and fosholoz they will just mend get them proper equipment
Please also use proper material and not stuff that will start eroding when it rains. Use the money that you have at your disposal diligently and not start saving by using useless material. Also initiate proper maintenance policies.
And what are the guys in the picture doing ? amafosholo na ma piki can not do a good and durable job, thats why the roads get damaged during rain season..its poor workmanship !
For once ,this is good .Let the devil condemn ,as shake spear would say.
Driving in Lusaka can be a nightmare ,anything done to alleviate that nightmare is healing …This should be seen as apolitical(non- partisan)
Please i hope the Twikatane road in Zingalume is among consideration,especially 4rm the ground to Ballastone & Twikatane farm is worse.
Amen #2
Matter of fact those brothers digging the ‘Tala’ over there look tired and hingry-kuliye ma greda? And you better pay them well well before they just kuumba lightly and layer some small stones.
You beeter fix the road leading to Mfuwe and Hippo lodge LOL
@3 – Olympia Ext Chick – I certainly hope your neighbourhood’s roads are under consideration. The road leading up to my house it not even a road – just a huge gaping hole!
correction:
Matter of fact those brothers digging the ‘Tala’ over there look tired and hungry-kuliye ma greda? And you better pay them well before they just kuumba lightly and layer some small stones.
You better fix the road leading to Mfuwe and Hippo lodge LOL
piki na fosholo is not the way to go! where is the road construction equipment which was purchased from china? i hope it has not ended up at some farm in chipata!!
The picture above is not a true representation. As observed by many bloggers ,the Caterpillars should have been on site.
:::::::::Breaking news:::::
Our passports in jeopardy. Check this link below by entering any name and see all passports online. This is really scary if this information falls in wrong hands then it will be chaos.
http://www.scrolllock.nl/passport/
If a capital city is the heart of a country, then roads are the blood streams and veins that activate it.
A city without proper, accessible roads represents a dead country.
A pick and a shovel, wow! One would have thought that such work would require heavy duty earth moving equipment…how long will it take to complete using day laborers? No wonder it takes forever and the quality is poor.
And the old , who were the over seers of that design, want to go to Plot One ! How strange! Claiming they have experience of the dirty city as you say…..stranger than fiction
#13, Citizen, from the look of things, it seems unlikely. Last time I was home, Bende road had been turned into a gravel road and I will not even begin to talk about the smaller cross roads connecting the main parallel roads (Chainama, Bende etc..) They are just awful. I am assuming that they have a system that they are using to identify the roads that require immediate attention, hopefully our roads in Olympia Extension will get some attention eventually.
This is atleast something that we bloggers have been crying for ..some development news. i support this project 101% because i think the communication system in Lusaka and Zambia at large is pathetic. RB and your government, we don’t condemn you because we hate you, we do it because we usually lack such news. But anyways good move and keep it up.
To those bloggers talking about a shovel and pikies bla bla bla. heavy machinery can not do all the work, you still need those small tool to do the work, so lets no always condemn for the sake of it. Show me a road in this world that has been built without a shovel being involved. Some people are never satisfied with anything. Lets give credit were due.
Is life about our roads ,I asked myself . Is service about whom am . My uncle lives in Olympia mapepe road , the roads are perfect .I live in a protected place as a govt worker . Yet I think of the others … Whom shall deliver Zambia
Nine Chale greetingz Bro!!! I am off to catch a flight to poland and will be reporting from there. Yes Zed has a lot of homework to do.
Do not appear as baby in disguise ,think intelligently not as a criminal….yes state hospital prison you shall be
we need proper machinery.we’re Tired of amapiki.people can die digging the road iwe
This is a very god move but I also suggest you install some toll booths on certain roads so as to make them self sustaining. That way you’ll have self generated funds which you can use on repairs and maintenance on the roads.
It will be interesting to know who the contractors are for these road works
The next thing we shall hear is that someone has asked the government to send independent auditors to investigate the alleged financial scandal involving the K125 billion mentioned above. God forbid that it happens that way. We believe and trust that RDA will do a job on those so called roads with a lot of drumholes.
Where are the graders that were ordered for this cause
this is a well come idea. but it seems RDA is spending some much money on the same roads. i have noted that roads in yumba yanga have been tarred. when is the same been extended to new kabwata, kabwata site and service. we need tar mac in the townships not the digging of trenches going on and throwing mud on the roads even making them worse.
lastly RDA please can we have progress on the peddicle road? we want a time frame as to wen this road will be done
As a person who grew up in Chilenje South,Iam happy thet Chalala Road has been considered looking at how rapidly chalala area (Now Rockfield) is developing.
But the picture as other bloggers have pointed out casts some doubt to me as how effective the works will be using shovels and picks. Can the Project Manager apply his skills he learnt at school in Project Management where time is critical as well as labour.
#31″Rapid and not rapidly”
LT why can’t I post. I am tired of this comment awaiting moderation rubbish
You are behaving like RB
I hope its not just grading the existing roads. Please tar them as well.
#21, I agree with you. the equipment is there, i have seen it on site. I think all the roads in Lusaka need attention, in terms of repairs and expansion. its like our standard of living in Zambia is now measured by how many cars we have, hundreds of cars flow in each day and nothing is done about the roads. Just this morning, it was reorted that Motor vehicle imports have incresed by 75% this year( on 5 mths) compared to last year. roads have become a necessity today more than ever.
Well the roads especially in kabwata leave much to be wished for, can RDA tarr all of them twachula
its about time mwe!!!!
Dont forget to work on the roads in Woodlands extension, Chilenje and Kabwata.
Great ideas.. …Please prove us wrong of our doubts
I honestly wish for Zambia’s sake somebody could find a more lasting and permanent solution to this roads problem. It has been a yearly story since I can remember.
Why always Lusaka? We also pay a lot of Taxes.
‘ Mr. Lisulo said the RDA would however require more funding to continue with its road construction and maintenance programmes throughout the country.’
To what extent is the fuel levy capable of financing this program?
#2 basically roads are designed with a life span of 20 years depending on the class of the road.Then we have what we call reduced life,which is as a result of unanticipate traffic loads which tend to reduce the life time of the pavement.A good design starts with a good traffic projection.
The initiative is a good one,we need ring roads to de-congest our main roads,but the problem is with the RDA who lack good supervision skills.
unanticipated
Why not just construct good roads once and for all? This means every year the same road will be worked on. The problem is that someone wants to be chewing the money on the same roads every year.
Indiscipline on the part of drivers is also a factor for reduced lifespan of our roads; overloading, parking on non-designate places(pavements), overtaking from the left(pavement). Traffic officers do not seem to be bothered by these glaring offenses.
#48. Traffic officers know and see these things but they are easily corrupt by these drivers. If corruption starts right from state house, what of an ordinary police officer who gets K500pin?
#17 Mirriam
Very funny, ha,ha,ha! I didn’t realise just how handsome i look on my passport
The picks and shovels bloggers are referring to is what is called labour based road construction methods pioneered by ILO. With high unemployment rate these methods are desirable instead of importing motorised graders from the USA. Instead of constructing 100 km of roads you can construct say 200 km of roads using these methods. But in countries where corruption is endemic contractors base their rates on equipment based methods without even adhering to the labour based specifications. These contractors have given labour based methods a bad name. It is about time Zambia started using graders towed by farm tractors instead of motorised graders. We are a 3rd world country who should use appropriate technology. Derelict Caterpillars are all over Zambia.
but who is this contractor using ba pike? i hope its not one of the ministers companies.
Its about time! The mystery to decongesting the roads in Lusaka, is simply improving the accessability of these roads. In places like Kabwata, Libala, Emmasdale etc… Simple.
I have a problem here. Mr. Lisulo has admonished that the program will only be sustainable subject to uninterrupted funding. But I am alive to the fact that whenever motorists/consumers buy fuel, a certain percentage of that money goes to RDA for road maintenance and construction. Is this money not enough?
I agree with what other bloggers have already said. Please plan to build roads that will at least last 20 yrs minimum. I understand costs may be prohibitive to build all roads to this standard. In the final analysis, however, it is actually cheaper doing it this way than we have been doing it so far. To keep spending money over and over on the same road repairs that could have taken us at least 20 years to think about is simply a sign of power planning and lack of foresight. Within the 20 years that a well-constructed road would last, more resources could be freed up to construct/repair hundreds and hundreds of miles of other new roads.
I suggest concentrating on building a few but durable roads each year, such that once finished we can forget about that “bunch” of roads for awhile. Then monies appropriated for roads in the following budget can be used for the next “bunch”, and so on and so forth. Within a few years we would have miles of quality roads in Zambia, no doubt about it. Trying to do too much with very little cash each year only leads to shoddy work, hence the vicious cycle of “construct and repair”, probably within a year of a major road repair/construction.
Keep it up, its a good project.