Lumumba Road: Chitotela demands quality

By NATION REPORTER GOVERNMENT expects quality rehabilitation road works on Lumumba Road because it is a catalyst for Zambia’s economy, Infrastructure and Housing Minister Roland Chitotela.

Mr Chitotela said once completed in October, the road would help ease the flow of mre than 20,000 vehicles a day.

Speaking when he inspected the ongoing road works on Lumumba road in Lusaka yesterday, the minister said he was impressed with the works undertaken so far on the US$23 million project.

He said he was happy because engineers and the contractor AVIC International were adhering to the specifications outlined by the Road Development Agency (RDA).

The minister said some people had misconstrued what constituted the cost of building a road without even understanding the categories of roads involved.

“We are expecting a quality product at the end of it all. I want to state that there has been a lot of information by the general public out there of what constitutes the cost of building a road.

“You have seen for yourselves that there a lot of things involved before the black top comes up.

“There are three different categories of roads even in Zambia if you check a chip and spray road, the best example is the MonzeNico Road one of the cheapest roads in Southern Africa, you have the double seal which is a bit higher and the final category asphalt,” he said.

He explained that a road of such quality costs $350, 000 per kilometre. RDA director and chief executive officer, Elias Mwape said the road project had created over 200 jobs for Zambians including technicians, engineers and labourers.

Engineer Mwape said the dual carriageway would cover a total of 14km and that extra eight traffic lights would be installed.