Poor Kitwe CBD roads blamed on Inertia

THE bad state of the roads in the Central Business District (CBD) in Kitwe (KCC) has exposed the inertia of the Plans, Works and Development (PWD) committee at the local authority, a councillor has said.

Lubwa ward councillor Ms Godfridah Chulu said bus drivers and other motorists were insulting the local authority because most of the roads in the CBD had been in a bad state for a long time and the PWD had not put pressure on the department of engineering to work on the roads.

She told PWD Chairman Bonny Kaonga to put pressure on the department of engineering so that it could work on the potholes on Oxford Avenue, main bus station and other roads in the CBD.

She said in an interview yesterday that it was sad and disappointing that members of the PWD committee were looking relaxed and comfortable when the state of roads in the CBD were bad and the traffic lights were not working.

"The problem is that my business is in the CBD near the main bus station and I can hear how minibus drivers and other motorists were complaining and insulting over the bad state of the roads in the CBD. The state of roads is bad in the CBD, but am wondering what the PWD and the engineering department is doing.

"Is it difficult to get some waste rock and fill in some potholes as a mitigating measure while we wait for some permanent works to be done under some government project? We have trucks which we can use to carry waste rock from the mines, but I don't know why we cannot do that," Ms Chulu said.

But council director of engineering Gabriel Akayombokwa said the more than 700km of roads were in a bad state and the council had only two tipper trucks to use.

Mr Akayombokwa said the council was overstretched and so it was difficult for anybody to see that it was working on the bad state of roads in the CBD.

"More than 700km of roads are in bad state and we only have two tipper trucks to use which is making it difficult to work on many roads at once. We are working on major roads which are damaged." Mr Akayombokwa said.

Mr Akayombokwa said the council was also working on improving drainage at Chisokone market following the construction of a new shelter.

"There were structures which were demolished at Chisokone market to pave way for the construction of a shelter to accommodate vendors. In the same area where some structures were demolished, we are working on improving the drainage system," He said.