Flaws on Alick Nkhata Bridge rectified, now safe, says resident engineer

By KETRA KALUNGA

ALL concerns that were raised on the safety of the Alick Nkhata flyover bridge in Lusaka have been rectified and it is safe, says resident engineer, Terrence Mukula.

He said he now hoped the Engineering Institute of Zambia would backtrack on its demands for the bridge to be demolished.

Mr. Mukula said in an interview that the transitional points which various stakeholders said were not safe have been worked on along with other parts that had defects.

He said works which are likely to be completed in two weeks’ time were progressing well and that the bridge has been partially opened to the public.

 “The works continue, mainly the corrections on some parts of the bridge which were not functioning properly and we are almost done and the bridge is partially opened,” he said.

And Mr Mukula has disclosed that they have had challenges importing some of the materials such as signage among others needed due to the second wave of Covid-19.

Mr. Mukula said this has slowed down the works but maintained that the work would be completed in about two weeks.

He is hopeful that the Engineering Institute of Zambia would backtrack on its current stance that the bridge be brought down because the defects have been rectified.

Mr. Mukula said it would be a waste of resources to bring down the entire bridge and start afresh when the defects on the bridge could be corrected.

“The work has been done, we just hope the EIZ president backtracks on his current stance because it would be an expensive venture to go into and I think there is not enough money to commit to such a venture when the defects on the bridge can be corrected which we have done,” he said.