Chiefs Affairs pose for a photo outside the Livingstone international
bus terminus currently under construction with councillors and
management at Livingstone City Council
THE Parliamentary Committee on Local Government and Chiefs Affairs has expressed happiness at the quality of works for the international bus terminus currently under construction in Livingstone.
Committee Member Given Lubinda said his team was happy that the bus terminus had been constructed with excellence.
Mr Lubinda, who is Patriotic Front (PF) Kabwata Member of Parliament (MP), said Livingstone residents and Zambians in general were looking forward to the completion of the quality project.
He was speaking in Livingstone on Tuesday when the Parliamentary Committee headed by Chadiza MP Allan Mbewe inspected the international bus terminus located at the Villa Grounds.
In February 2013, the Government through former Southern Province Permanent Secretary Chileshe Mulenga signed a contract with Ndilila Associates director Francis Ndilila to construct an international bus terminus at Livingstone’s Villa Grounds at a cost of K41.5 million.
This was in readiness for the 20th session of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly in August last year.
“We have no doubt Livingstone residents and Zambians in general are anxiously waiting for the completion of the project.
From what we have seen here, this is quality work. Such a showpiece should help us improve in other facilities we are constructing,” Mr Lubinda said.
Speaking during the same tour, Ndilila Associates co-director Ireen Ndilila said the terminus was expected to be completed and ready for use in June this year if additional funds were released.
Ms Ndilila said the escalators, which were being awaited for a long time, had arrived at Walvis Bay in Namibia.
She said the escalators would arrive in Livingstone in two weeks time in readiness for their installation.
“This bus terminus will have a number of shop facilities, restaurants, banks or bureau de changes and other amenities for the travelling public to enjoy.
On the ground floor, it will have toilets as well as restaurants and baggage areas among other facilities” she said.
Ndilila Associates are designers and project managers in conjunction with a team of quantity surveyors and civil engineers
The main contractor is China’s Zamchin firm and there are several other sub-contractors in charge of plumbing, electrical connections and ceiling installation among other works.
“On the challenge we face, we have been struggling with workmanship to get the accuracy we are looking for in these modern days.
Further, certain aspects like paving, standby generator and water supply were not included in the initial plan and so we had to ask for further funds from the Government,” Ms Ndilila said.
My advise to the Livingstone city council is to run the facility in a professional manner not what is happening at Lusaka inter city the place is in a real mess.The place is a haven of thugs harassing traveller,so called’ traders’ scattered selling items that are irrelevant to travellers,not forgeting the call boys the place is realy hell.Lets hope the facility in Livingstone will be run within the law no corruption in allocating any facility and also no POLITICAL interference from politicians as they have contributed to have made many public facilities in Zambia to become disorderly.
Actually, they should not run it as a council but sub-rent. That way it will be maintained.
#1.1 you are perfectly right. The Livingstone local government should franchise it to a private investor with a reputation of excellent business practice. OR else, the authorities that be should appoint a board of directors to run the station. I prefer the first one where the government just formulates laws, and standards for running whole the bus terminals in Zambia and continues to build state-of-the-art bus terminals allover the country and franchises them to reputable investors, whether local or foreign. In a similar manner the commutter transport in London and the long distance trains are run. They are just sort of franchised while the government just sets up standards for running them.
Be impressed by projects delivered on time and with budget Or incorporation of sustainable products….not things already specified in the brief.
Part of a group which cannot give us a consituitution, we want the constitution you guys. That office is for laws not ta6lking about small projects, we want a consitution
Man, discuss this on a different but related topic. Not on this topic. It simply shows how dull you are.
The intercity at lusaka is hell sure i was shocked at the level of disonfort i experienced some one must do something. Its hell there , you dont who you would talk to, busses delayed staying in a bus for 6 hours
Man, thats hell on earth. Anyone I have met (white, black, yellow, etc) who has been there vows never to go there again. Thats one of the top discouragements for tourists. My own daughter was terrified I simply had to avoid using it before she vows never to go to Zambia again.
They should now go to Zim and see how they run theirs. Each bus and passenger pays departure fee. They have a nicer one than ours which is pathetic. No vending and no bus should be sleeping inside the terminal. That way you will avoid loiters, thieving and littering. it works everywhere
Just like an airport it should also be closing from midnight until 5am.
Shoddy project management – how do you leave out critical infrastructure such as standby generator from your initial plan?
Ms Ndilila said the escalators, which were being awaited for a long time, had arrived at Walvis Bay in Namibia.
“On the challenge we face, we have been struggling with workmanship to get the accuracy we are looking for in these modern days.
Further, certain aspects like paving, standby generator and water supply were not included in the initial plan and so we had to ask for further funds from the Government,” Ms Ndilila said.
So, the Livingstone International Bus Terminus is almost complete? A big ups to all stakeholders who were and still are involved in its construction. Job well done. However, I won’t waste time on laureates. However, I would like to make a few comments on Ndilila Associates co-director Ireen Ndilila’s sentiments relating to my first slot on #7 and I will start with the first one and please refer to them as you read on. Thanks. I will start with the second paragraph of 7 (or 2/7).
This complaint of poor workmanship is now as old as Zambia itself. Pretty certain during colonialism (when a white-man ruled Zambia) this complaint never existed and this can be proved by the outstanding quality of structures which were constructed during that period of time. Reason being white systems…
…from #8.
had incorporated (embedded if you like) capacity building structure which retrained graduate tradesmen to suit the company’s requirements in terms of required levels of product output standards. In fact those systems never cared whether you were a trades college graduate as they were going to train you to the highest levels of competence. Just look and compare the houses (wherever you are in Zambia including villages) built before independence or few years after and you will be able to notice a remarkable difference in quality and duration. And today is the time when we have maybe millions of graduates.
…from #8.1
Maybe its high time our Zambian bred companies took seriously the training of staff- especially tradesmen/women with international standards in mind. Botswana with by far less educated people hasn’t been complaining about tradesmen and women. But look and compare their structures with Zambia. In fact along those lines Botswana can compete with Germany. Colleges train to give a general direction to graduates. Its the companies that are supposed to shape those trades people according to their set standards.
…follows from #9
The last paragraph quotation simply hinges on good consultancy service. It’s Ndilila Associates themselves to blame for terribly bad consultancy service. Right from the onset of consultancy these structures, facilities and utilities (paving, standby generator and water supply were not included in the initial plan) should have been standard to the whole project. Really, in their own right mind, how could Ndilila Associate expect an INTERNATIONAL Bus Terminus operate without water? In short without toilet facilities, a standby generator, and a paved ground. Could you really lack these in place and still call that bus station a state-of-the-art? You must be out of your minds. You should have been good and informing adviser to the local government instead of being equally…
…from #10.
blind. Probably the government authorities thought you knew what, state-of-the-ar, and international meant. In fact for me in the presence of coins now, you should have even included toilets and shower rooms with electronic gate barriers which can only open upon inserting a coin or coins into it. This is thinking forward and value adding for the council to make extra money out of the traveling public or those just patronizing the bus station. This would have been good and informing consultancy. But I just hope public toilets with reinforced security as I have mentioned (electronic gates) are there.
Thumbs up top the UPND run council. Way to go
Why do we like international for everything? I think we’re yet to have an international toilet. There are better bus stops overseas but they are not called international. Hope they will maintain cleanness and keep criminals away. Good though that Ndilila designed the project.
Escaletors: With proper planning escalators should have been ordered long before it was too late. Of course its everyone’s’ knowledge that our maintenance engineers in Zambia can not design escalators and as a consultancy company, through your experience and past knowledge you should have known that escalators will take long to arrive. This is because there’s no standard escalator- some of these things are designed and manufactured/made upon order and a down payment given to the manufacturing companies. Most of these companies have international reputations and they don’t mince their words- they tell you the truth in order to retain their reputation. But if you don’t believe them you will be disappointed. I hope its a lesson for you now. I also hope that our engineers can take it as…
YAWN….Anything important to report on???? Like your people’s long-awaited constitution like your people are demanding?????
…from #13
their challenge to start designing such, not very impossible things as escalators which are just a set of chains, a motor, electrical circuits and a software to drive and control it. Well, I have simplified it. But they are engineers. And this is what an escalator (without going into details) is all about. They are similar to lift (English) or Elevators (American) and travelators. They all work on the same technological principle.
Now coming to the above report or the article- It is very disappointing how hitherto, authorities in Zambia after inspecting a project just tell the citizens that they are very happy with the way the project is going OR the finished product of the project. Do they really think Zambians are still domicile (or are we?) to only be told that things are fine. On what criteria do they say thing are going well? Why don’t they tells us how fine/ok things against a set of benchmarks. I personally find it very annoying to just read that,
“THE Parliamentary Committee on Local Government and Chiefs Affairs has expressed happiness at the quality of works for the international bus terminus currently under construction in Livingstone.”
…from #16.
I personally, find this statements very annoying as I always waste my time reading the whole article with the hope of coming across BENCHMARKS or the criteria in other words, but to no avail. People don’t want to be cheated- they have been cheated long enough. They want to know against what criteria are they qualifying a given project. Please, tell us like you are telling people you respect, like you are telling your masters as you yourselves put it.
I really hope there will be no vending and kaponyas running the show as is the case in the rest of bus stations around the country. Let there be sanity in Livingstone!
Lusaka City Council SHAME you for failing to run the Lusaka inter hell terminus.LCC management its time you woke from the slumber.