The Lusaka City Council (LCC) is compiling a report on the state of drainage system in the city following the heavy downpour which left some parts of Lusaka flooded.
Floods covered Lusaka’s Kamwala shopping area, town centre, Kulima tower bus station and some residential areas following the rains that poured from around midnight to midmorning of yesterday.
LCC Assistant Public Relations Manager Mulunda Habeenzu told ZANIS in an interview yesterday that council engineers were in the field assessing the situation before a report is written.
Mr. Habeenzu said the affected areas will be worked on as soon as the report is done.
He said the report, which was expected to be ready by yesterday but delayed because engineers were locked in a meeting which lasted the whole day, will also help determine the extent of the flood and further help identify affected drainages.
When asked whether the council has plans of making an embankment on the Bombay drain in Kamwala where some shops are likely to be affected by floods should heavy rains continue, Mr. Habenzu said all the drainages in the city will be worked on if the report suggests that they are in a bad state.
Some shops in Kamwala area lie very close to the Bombay drain which has no portal flame to stop it from expanding.
The shops that are close to the Bombay drain are therefore likely to collapse should the rains continue.
Meanwhile, the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU), a department in the Office of the Vice President which is in charge of mitigating disasters, has been inspecting the drainage system in the city to ensure that any kind of disaster is prevented.
Recently, Deputy Minister in the Office of the Vice President Harry Kalaba inspected the Bombay drain and other drainages in the city and directed the council to clear garbage in the systems to avoid blockages.
And when contacted for a comment on the reported flood in the city, DMMU National coordinator Patrick Kangwa could not comment as he was in the field to access the flood situation in the city.
ZANIS
This is being very dull indeed! These floods, just like cholera, happen every year but you are still compiling reports!
You even say ‘engineers were locked in a meeting which lasted the whole day’ – What meeting? Get out there and clear the drainage lines!
Absolutely right! I am actually as riled as you are about this. It stopped making sense after the publicized Kanyama disaster decades ago… Incompetence has just been piling on since then. It is almost as if people make more money by being incompetent…????
48 years down the line we are still fighting poor drainages and cholera…pathetic and incompetent engineers….
Most of these people occupying functional office must either be repatriated to less harmful units (if ever there are any) or outrightly fired. I cannot believe that after decades of such a problem we should still be talking about simple things like unblocking drainage after the fact. Â This is nauseating to say the least!!!Â
I am aware that generally people don’t resign out of principle and dignity, so we should increase the sensitivity of the appointing authority to have zero tolerance for this shocking incompetence. Additionally, people building in flood-prone areas without seeking active prevention must be charged for their irresponsible behaviors!
YOU HAD THE DRY SEASON TO PUT DRAIN AGES IN PLACE . WHY DO YOU WANT TO COMPILE A REPORT NOW? BUSY SELLING PLOTS. LCC IS FULL OF STUPID EMPLOYEES AND COUNCILORS. GARBAGE IS ALLOVER WHEN CHOLERA BREAKS OUT THAT IS WHEN THEY WHILE COMPILE A REPORT ON GARBAGE SITUATION IN THE CITY. WHAT KIND OF STUPIDITY IS THIS?
no no no no how can they be assessing extent of floods?where were they during the dry season-thats when they should have been having these close door meetings-zambians we are good at writing reports but action zero..public service has been reduced to a joke in Zambia…
Always the same story. We will never develop like this. These councils always wait for the rain season for them to react. Lusaka is pathetic. You can’t even move properly due to flooding in most areas. And the solution to this is simple. Build large canals that can take excess waters to nearby rivers and stream like ZCCM did in Kabwe. Shame on on the Local Governemt
I’m sure a large part of the problem is that many people (no one here, of course) throw their plastic drinks bottles and other rubbish on the street without thinking thereby blocking what few drains we have.
Show some respect for the cleanliness of the city and things might just get a little bit better!
Btw – ZANIS, what is a “portal flame” – are you sure you don’t mean “portal frame” and what is that anyway? Honestly, these so-called national journalists!
So soon at the just the start of the rainy season!!!!! There are still 4 months to go. Jan/Feb rains are the heaviest. I can imagine what is going to happen.
bombay drain, no wonder there are problems all over, such names are synonymous with poor planning, should have been mumbai
with the kind of leaders leading us in govt including councils, Lusaka will remain a failed city. how can we fail to solve this problem which we experience every year. We need re colonization because we have failed to rule ourselves. People supported sata’s directive on street vending. now we are reaping from the results of street vending, uncleanness and throwing litter everywhere. now we will be told of the people who will be dead because of cholera. What a failed city! What a failed nation!
The PF is happy with floods because they will row their canoes. The PF kaponyas can even introduce a canoe-taxi business in Lusaka. Is this not what the refer to as “pa bwato”?
Yes, I can see the tourist posters now – Lusaka, the Venice of Southern Africa!
(…only never mind the used condoms and shake-shake cartons floating in the “canals”)
A report is only being done now! Ask yourselves why there is no flooding in Chingola, Mufulira Kitwe. The mines planned the towns-Lusaka is a big Mess with shanties outnumbering decent residential areas. Cholera came to Zambia via Lusaka
Why are the drainage systems not sorted out before the rains start. This is very poor planning. Why should you wait for the problem to occur before you start planning. Wake up you planners don’t just slumber in you offices.
We had serious rains here in Ndola for about three days, no township was flooded. If anythng it rains mo here than Lusaka so i was wondering wat could hav happened to our capital town if it was on the copperbelt where rains are heavier. Anyway fidiling’eni mwebene uko. Bedrock and Kamwala south and Kuku mwalamwenako.. U shuld see how UK has been affected by floods, some of thez things are difficult to deal with so i dont know wat to say kanshi mwee
At last the pabwato can seal on water unlike on dry land like this past year but the only problem they have is it was never meant to be in real water its just a fake it would sink just like all the promises PF made before elections.
Sata is again blaming the opposition for the FLOODS.
Its always the same issues. Extent of floods etc, i thot we had them (floods) last year as well and reports were written and “engineers” met. They r meeting again, they will meet next year as well….sh*t.
Awe! no, the problem is we don;t learn from past experiences (tatwakasambili twalibelela ukusebana tulundapofye)
bloggers please read “so this is lusaakas”. this book highlights the drainage problems of lusaka and has alternatives to the problem. infact it explains why kabwe was a prefered capital city to lusaka cos of this same problem. am sure lcc have a copy of this book. its just that bakamushi have taken over the show.
people you mean ti tell me that the drains became magically blocked during the rainy season or they just didn’t care when it was dry. firefighting management
Fire all those lazy bastards, good for nothing, where were they for the whole year, they must be extremely lazy.