EIZ counsels NFRA on project costs
THE National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) should ensure that the cost of projects especially in the road sector should correspond to works obtaining on the ground, Engineering Institution of Zambia (EIZ) President Sydney Matamwandi has advised.
Mr Matamwandi said EIZ agreed with Government’s stance that discrepancies in the cost of construction for similar buildings, even when different terrains were taken into consideration, should not be too much.
Mr Matamwandi said it was important that there was uniformity in the cost of constructing public infrastructure and that even where the terrain was different, the variance should not be very big.
Speaking at a meeting with NRFA yesterday, Mr Matamwandi alson advised the organisation against indiscriminately describing every project as expensive as this was causing unnecessary questions. He said projects such as roads and especially toll plazas had many components, tangible and intangible, that cost money to maintain and operate. "Projects such as Shimabala Toll Plaza had many components, tangible and intangible, that cost money, which include concrete and steel structures; furniture; computer servers; power supply from three sources solar, diesel generator and Zesco grid”
“electric Substation with transformer; borehole with pump and water articulation pipes; fibre optic cable connection to Lusaka and wireless backup; high-resolution cameras; large monitors; computers; cash registers that are not cheap to procure.” Mr Matamwandi said
He said a toll plaza was a complex system with many accessories and needed a team of highly-qualified and dedicated personnel to operate and maintain. Mr Matamwandi said Zambian plazas were among the most advanced in Africa and EIZ was pleased that tolling agencies from other countries in the region had been coming to learn and benchmark with Zambia.
He said though NRFA was meeting and exceeding performance targets, management consistently it should not hesitate to consult with other bodies.
Mr Matamwandi said NRFA should invite stakeholders such as professional bodies to consult and exchange views on how to solve existing problems and take advantage of available opportunities, both technological and economic.
Meanwhile, Mr Matamwandi said it was important that money collected by NRFA was utilised transparently, prudently and in priority areas.