PETAUKE IN MAJOR ROAD REHABS
By NATION REPORTER GOVERNMENT will next month engage contractors to rehabilitate some roads in Petauke Central constituency that have remained in a deplorable state for a long time, says member of parliament Dora Siliya.
Ms. Siliya said Government was aware of many challenges that people in the area faced due to the poor road infrastructure.
She said Kaulu and Mumbi/ Mwanjabanthu roads would be worked on next month to address the challenge.
She said the poor state of the road network was limiting access to some essential facilities such as health centres and schools.
It was also hampering the transportation of agricultural produce to nearby markets.
She also observed that four bridges on the Kasonde/ Minga road had collapsed and needed urgent rehabilitation to ease access to Minga Mission Hospital which was the biggest health facility in the area.
“Government is determined to ensure that it uplifts the social economic status of the people by improving road infrastructure, access to water and sanitation, schools and promoting agricultural productivity among other economic areas,” Ms. Siliya said. She also assured farmers in the Kalindawalo and Mumbi chiefdoms that Government will not engage banks that did not perform well in the distribution of farming inputs last year to ensure that farmers do not face challenges in accessing inputs as they prepare for the 2018/19 farming season.
And Ms. Siliya has donated K30, 000 seed money to women groups to enable them engage in village banking to improve their economic status.
Meanwhile, Chief Mumbi said there was urgent need to rehabilitate the road linking his chiefdom to the Great East Road which had remained unattended to for a long time.
The traditional leader said the road needed to be rehabilitated before the onset of the rains failure to which people in his area may be cut off from the rest of the district.
Chief Mumbi also expressed concern over delays by Government to complete the construction of Mumbi Day Secondary School, saying works had stalled for over seven years.
He also highlighted the poor access to safe water and sanitation as an issue affecting his chiefdom.