The Road Development Agency (RDA) is within the next 100 days expected to commence the upgrade of the 45.5 kilometers, Kitwe-Chingola Road into a dual carriage way through cost effective and economically justifiable engineering designs at an estimated cost of K600 billion to be funded by government.
Making the disclosure at a media briefing in Lusaka this morning, RDA acting Director and Chief Executive Officer Bernard Chiwala said the project has been necessitated by an increase in traffic volumes travelling between Kitwe and Chingola.
Mr. Chiwala says the upgrade will begin from the Kazembe junction in Kitwe up to Kasupe junction in Chingola and is expected to be done over a period of two and half years.
He has also pointed out that the project punctuates the commencement of the National Road Tolling as the road will be tolled upon completion.
The RDA acting Director says detailed designs for the dual carriage way are already in place following a detailed feasibility study that was conducted by Ranking engineering.
He further says an initial amount of K100 billion has been reallocated in the 2012 Annual Work Plan to facilitate commencement of works before the end of the year adding that the balance will be provided under the 2013 Annual Work Plan.
And Mr. Chiwala has said RDA has engaged the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) as observers on the tendering processes of Road contracts to promote transparency and accountability.
QFM
Until we see a contractor on site we will treat this as the usual rhetoric from RDA and the government of the day. Just how many lives are worth this road being upgraded to dual carriage way
Good News,You should consider Chingola/Kasumbalesa and the M5 Chingola/Solwezi as well.Please this time it should/must be serious because we have lost alot of our mates on this notorious Kitwe/Chingola Road.
This is wonderful news.Govt should make sure a reputable company is contracted for such a huge undertaking.Consideration should be given to the Ndola-Lusaka road to upgrade it to a dual carriage way as well.
i dont believe i am hearing this…what a great news of the day this is……..copperbelt..sharp sharp…PF…at work
Government should start thinking about upgrading all inter district and provisional roads as there is too much traffic using this narrow roads that was either inherited from the colonial master or built by KK’s UNIP to cater for Mini Cooper,Fiat 127 and the likes.Considerations should be on Kapiri/Nakonde,Kapiri/Mpulungu,Lusaka/Chipata,Lusaka/Livingstone roads before you leave office.Maybe the road carnage ratios will drop. I also like the idea of Toll Fee as it is long overdue in Zambia.
though two and half years is such a long period to do a comprehensive road network…we have always wanted more than yesterday….
Even if RDA has engaged ACC to ensure transparancy in the tendering process as long as the guys from ACC dont have an engineering background they will still be dribbled at some point. The best would have been to engage a consulting engineer to work hand in hand with ACC. By the time the road works are complete the cost would have short up to almost a trillion ZMK. That stretch of 45km has’t got serious challenges like Mongu-Kalabo Road to cost such huge sum of money. The cost should have been in the range of 450-500Billion ZMK. When RDA going to widen Chingol- Solwezi Road say to the standard of Formular One coz that will make meaningful change that road is another death trap.Mr. Chiwala we need answers.
why should someone call for press briefing for a project which will start off next year?
WHILE OTHERS ARE MAKING NOISE ABOUT YOU, ACT ACT ACT ACT….VIVA PFÂ
I CAN`T WAIT TO SEE ORDER IN THIS ROAD
From 90 day to 100 days…… ?? Such promises are never fulfilled.Â
Katwishi noko tukala Blogger.Ba watchdog bala tu blocker, ba fwaya fwe aba sapota Ha Ha,ba bantustan.Ninkwata no mwenso uwakulanda sana na panopene kuti bakucindishya amano.Nalalandefye at SATA SATA !
chwe chwe chwe chwe chwe……………………………………………………………………………… PF at work
LT picture is different from story. That will be an expensive road. K600bn for 45.5kms calculates to K13.2bn per kilometre. What else are they going to put on that road?
I know of one bridge,near Sabina on mwambashi river
i gues they are not only going to construct one road but also resurface the old one;this totals up to 96kms with the two bridges at mwambashi to be put in place…the amount is okay and may be less.
They may also redesign the rail crossings…! I was just wondering why they are building a dual carriage way. I think we need two lanes going in one direction and another two lanes in the other direction – that road is going to be even busier when the Chambishi free economic zone is fully up and running…!Â
HH please criticize this one also,i know you are intelligent, that’s why you are an opposition.
This is the best news from the PF so far!! It’s hectic travelling on that road especially in the evening when the mining trucks are going through the same road. Kitwe Chingola could take up to 3hrs because of the traffic. I’m so happy about this:)
Let us do it. Great news.
100 days?why not 90days?Ok we will wait.Where is my diary I start counting
RDA; how much of the 45.5km will be done by locals? Just thinking loudly. Imagine asking all those unemployed to work on 5KM; the impact on the economy will be huge. Are there engineers who can facilitate this? From moving earth, to a lot more. In short, if it will take 2.5years, we might as well not mechanise everything. This for me has always been an issue. The educated, think for us Kaponyas, and embedd elements that we can do. “Every little helps”.
I will wait to comment until the work starts. We heard MMD make such states and nothing happened. PF likes to make statements which it fails to fulfil.Â
finally!
Wow ! This is the second best news to come from Zambia (best being MMD`s loss).It is about time.I am very happy to hear this.That road has claimed just too many lives.Kudos bane !
@Kanyengambeta. They are also installing toll gates on the road so that you pay for using it. thats why it is expensive..
Its not only this stretch of road that needs upgrading to a dual carriage one but all roads connecting all towns on the copperbelt and the entire network that links other provinces around the country.
Our current road network is not only unsafe, but economically inefficient as well.
Lets be proud and develop our country and not be like we are just doing someone else a favour.
Very right!
LT don’t be lazy pictures of Mr Bernard Chiwala and Road construction projects are on RDA website…why upload a picture of Road Transport and Safety acting director??
At 2.6million dollars per Kilometer, this will be the most expensive road in the world!! Unbealievable
This is to much! The 245 km Sesheke/Senanga road with 2 bridges was budgeted to cost K706 billion. Ba PF your roads are very expensive to build……are you creaming off or what? Tiza mimanga ha mambala! Even if you die we’ll exhume your remains and put them in the national museum!
This road should be a freeway not just a dual carriageway. This means it should be a road allowing a minimum speed and should not have any other roads cutting through it. It should be fenced off from pedestrians and its island or its middle should have a barrier so that noone can do a U turn on it. This way you make it safer. Even the Kitwe-Ndola dual carriage way needs to be similarly upgraded.
What happened to Mwalusaka as RTSA Director? why the man above is acting?
Plans from MMD. Good I thought PF would throw everything away as long as MMD started it. Very good, now let us wait and see the corruption in dealing with these projects.
If you are going to justify cost effective and economical engineering designs at least elaborate more on the design brief to justify the high cost to the tax payer. These people have to learn to sell the brief to the taxpayer and not merely having ACC as observers that doesn’t guarantee transparency and that’s not their job. The onus is on you to put in simple systems of checks and balances to show that you’re are transparent.
You mean to tell me, it’s taken this long as a country to pay attention to one of the most important 45.5KM roads we have??
Please do this fast, let the road be strong enough to carry heavy traffic.
People have died and we may lose more lives before completion. Now why the toll gates? Remember this has raised a concern in countries like south africa and its like stealing from people. We are already paying fuel levy and what more do you want. WE are paying carbon tax already. Just reconstruct and upgrade to dual finish. chwe chwe chwe chwe
Great news lets hope it takes off in 100 days as promised, we seem to have a government that uses coded language when it comes to time. I remember a certain 90 days that has gone well past and am now wondering whether this referred to 90 years. Back to sound comment before i digress even further, the government should also look at making the Lusaka Ndola a dual carriage way considering the staggering number of accidents that occur on this route. If there is no funding how about tolling this road to ensure income that will repay the debt and keep the road well maintained.
Pse RDA/PF govt, plan a dual carriage for the Mandevu to 10 miles stretch as well. Last time I used that road I almost parked my Lambo to wait for traffic to reduce. That stretch is becoming busy. Can you imagine when the new stadium (that master architectural/civil engineering piece still under construction) is finished and it is a day chipolopolo are playing Ghana. I hope there are also plans to relocate our Mandevu bululus that are too close to the road so that something to compliment the beauty of the stadium can be put up. Even a shopping mall.
Great news. Next Lusaka/Kabwe road
Kanofye ngaya amba, too many stories, too many deaths, please bafikala do something this time before tatulafwa
This is how is should be, Euro bond, B+ Rating, good road preject on the Copperbelt, starting, so that perennial critics run out of amunition. Give them a permit for the rally, please so they criticise this road project and the impending floating of the Eurobond!!!
@ Mp’nga Mbizi and Livingstone. Here are a few facts for you:
2005/06 Cost of building 1KM of road (per lane) for motorways – £6.8M
2005/06 Cost of building 1KM of road (per lane) dual carriageway – £4.6M
What are you talking about? Learn to appreciate when positive developments take place. Â
@Kalupe, this is a mere pronouncement; an intention perhaps but no development yet. People have been appreciating the promises and intentions of pf since they were in the opposition. Remember that the giving of time frame is not good because it may just turn out that we shall be told to wait for 2016 because that is the mandate we gave them. We voted on the promises but alas…
Please Kalupe, be specific. Are those costs for Zambia or the Uk ? Road construction costs in SADC range between $400 000 to $1 000 000 with Zambia been the most expensive. Obviously you’ve given us construction costs in the UK. Good try!
the costs are per kilometre.
Did he mean to say 90 days?,
why are we suddenly working in base 100 NOT the 90 we are used to?
Mr. Chiwala says the upgrade will begin from the Kazembe junction in Kitwe up to Kasupe(this is spelt as Kasompe) junction
yes it is Kasompe and not Kasupa.
Yes!! It is Kasompe.
I am not into roads construction but 600billion ZMK =122.5M USD divide that by 45.5km and thats 2.69m USD per km. It looks way too expensive for me but I could be wrong @ 38 KALUPE where are getting your figures from? Can the source of your costs per KM be verified independently. Or has LT got it reporting/numbers wrong? Someone into roads construction please help.
WE ARE JUST FROM BURYING 5 PIPO WHO PERISHED OVER THE WEEKEND ALONG THE SAME ROAD. DO WE TO WAIT FOR SUCH FATALITY TO OCCUR TO US TO ACT?
Roads are poorly constructed and narrow for economies meant to grow. We need dual carriage way between Chililabombwe – Kazungula, Mongu – Chipata, Kapiri Mposhi – Nakonde and then wider roads (lanes) for Kafue – Chirundu, Chingola – Lumwana, Kazungula – Mongu, Kaoma – Zambezi, Kalulushi through Mufulira/Mansa to Samfya. Come to think of how many jobs would be created
i would be a happy person to see a zambian company be awarded this contract and  zambians themselves doing the job.not chinese o any other foreign company. zambia can be developed by zambians not foreigners.
Its great news indeed however, I just do not know how practical it will be to commence on building a road at the height of a rainy season. In 100 days we will be dead in the middle of  January – February when Zambia is experiencing the heaviest rains of the year. Typically road construction is at a total stand still in the rainy season anywhere in the world. Maybe that is why it will cost as much as $2.7 million per Kilometer….Â
I don’t know how much roads cost but we need a road that will withstand those heavy trucks and rainfall.Please not a paper thin road costing half the price and the rest of the money pocketed the Zambian way.Think of our children please.
I’ll comment after on the 100th day. I have learnt to wait; I am still waiting for the 90 days.
If we see this taking off and reaching completion, you have more votes from forward thinking people.
Chiluba was supposed to make Ndola – Lusaka dual carriage way, but somehow money was misappropriated. We hope nothing of the sort happens on this one.
the whole stretch from the mining areas in north western and copperbelt provinces to the borders in Southern province must be a dual carriage way, strictly speaking!
how about dual carriage way, Lusaka to Mongu.
Let’s build Zambia, our beautiful country whilst they are busy talking at rallies and making empty statements on tv and radio this government will stuck in doing the hard work.Â
Welldone PF government you’re men of action.Let HH talk while you’re busy developing our beloved country. This road has killed so many of our people.Pls after Chingola/Kitwe road do Chingola/Solwezi. road as its equally bad and killed alot of people as well.
Bravo PF:D:*:*
What about Chingola-Lumwana with the huge traucks but look at the road.Is is because of PF.The late President Dr.Mwanawasa talked about Chingola-Solwezi dual carriage way.Sorry that president was intellegent and a vision leader but the one we have i dont know the metallity.
We need a good road as well between Chingola and Lumwana in North-western
Once the road completed to will reduce 90% of road accidents on this route. We are grateful!!
Chingola council has meanwhile given plots few metres from the road and serous developments are going on. I hope the designers did a good job. Theres a powerline on the left as you enter Chingola near the rail crossing. Zalawi truck workshop just few meter on the right. Kazenen bulding milling company and filling station not too far. Another filling station at Chambishi T off.
I have seen this too, bwafya
@37. Mpinganira. Just because a road is going to be built and the govt is going to borrow, doesn’t mean that opposition politics should come to an end! You’re very 4th world person! I bet people like you do wonder why there’s any need for opposition parties in developed countries as they seem to have everything. My dear life in Zambia does not revolve around a dual carriageway between two neighbouring copperbelt towns or government getting into debt to the tune of $750m .
Poor Zambians , everyone is happy just for fixing one road, that’s nothing
Roads are being fixed every day in America , thats the government ‘s job
This is indeed very welcome news. A lot of lives have perished on this road. Correction it is Kasompe turnoff not Kasupe!
Good but i do not understand why a 45km road should take 2.5 years,any chance of crashing some critical paths on this project??
Do the Kalulushi road to Sabina (Mufulira turnoff) junction first and you will take a lot of load/pressure off the Kitwe/Chingola road!
Vandaful!
@ Mp’nga Mbizi and Livingstone; Its 90 km not 45km. the road is dual.
Good news, let us develop Zambia while we leave the skeptics in their bitterness and frustration. A good hewed plan indeed.
fantastic points altogether, you simply won a logo new|a new} reader. What could you suggest about your post that you just made a few days in the past? Any positive?