The Lusaka City Council (LCC) has blamed the slow pace of constructing effective drainage systems on the rocky ground in some townships in the city.
LCC Assistant Public Relations Manager Mulunda Habeenzu said rocks that cover much of the ground surface in Lusaka have posed a great challenge to the local authority.
Mr. Habeenzu told ZANIS in Lusaka that it was costly for the council to provide reliable drainage systems areas where there were a lot of rocks.
“Most parts of Lusaka are rocky and this is our biggest challenge to addressing drainages and as a council, it is costly on our part to put up drainages in the Compounds,” he said.
He said this was why the local authority was only attending to emergency drainage works in Misisi, Kamwala South, Chawama, Kalikiliki, Kabwata Site and Service, Chipata and Mandevu compounds respectively.
He said the council was however working with other partners to blast rocks in compounds.
Mr. Habeenzu has further explained that the local authority was however considering putting up permanent solutions so that the issue of flooding could be dealt with once and for all.
He disclosed that the council was given K10 billion for working on the drainage system in Lusaka but these funds were not enough.[quote]
He said that the LCC has engaged a contractor to work on the drainage system in Kanyama compound.
Mr. Habeenzu pointed out that the council was currently rebuilding bridges whose culverts had collapsed in Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, Mwembeshi, and Olympia area.
Meanwhile, Mr. Habeenzu said the council has also embarked on a vigorous emptying of pit latrines, provision of portable toilets and sensitizing the public on the need to maintain a hygienic environment.
ZANIS
The problem is lack of planning by LCC. Plots are allocated in areas without roads, water and sewage system. The drainage system does not exist at all.
So how long will it take them, how many years do the need?
I think bottom line is this council has been sleeping. When did they realise about these rocks. Surely there is “MADOBI” to blast rocks with and that should have taken LCC thing long to realise, besides this problem has been there for a long time
How much has the LCC budgeted for this drainage every year. I think it is not good to just say we were given 10 billion and it was not enough when you don’t even mention the total budget needed to solve the problem once and for all
Don´t be big failures,lusaka is the capital which should bring pride. Tired of excuses,get to work or risign.Simple!!
Someone could mobilise the communities to begin to help themselves over these issues. When are we going to see Zambians get off their back sides and do something in their environments instead of waiting for hand outs from government?
When we were growing up on the Copperbelt, we used to see contractors in the mines and other townships use jack hammers or inchombolo when they encountered rocks in a work area. What happened with chaps running the Lusaka City Council? They do not know about these things? Bukamushidodo?
Its a shame that in this time and age we are still so far behind conventional practices in design. Zambia has a lot of capable people that can change the course of this country but their skills lay at waste with this current government. I cant wait for the day we are going to run things properly in this country!
These rocky places have just been discovered? How come every year that past in the UNIP and Sata as governor the drainage was well worked on? The City Council and Ministry of Local Government have literally done nothing. So, the excuse of rocks is bull crap. How long has Great North Road being in existence? How come all along the drainage worked out well? So, are these rocks new to Lusaka? When did they migrate to Lusaka?
Shame on the City Council! I wonder when they knew that the underlaying rock of Lusaka was very hard to deal with! We Zambians are just too loud mouthed, especially petty politicians and do very little for the suffering masses! And what is even worse is that the masses get fooled ALL THE TIME and never learn their lessons!
Chama #8, I am with you. Our current leadership sucks even though most of them have degrees. Shame upon us. What is needed is less talk but more action. The thing i don’t want is for foreigners to come and tell us what to do and yet we got brains.
The country has Civil engineers. Iwe Habeenzu, use them, ala!
#9 You are right. When Sata becomes president there will be no such things as floods in the whole of Zambia. He will manage to get rid of such things in 90 days.
Sad reading. Not giving much hope is it?