Stalled Lumumba road works annoy motorists

Mon, 16 Jan 2017 10:13:39 +0000

By KALOBWE BWALYA

WORKS on the patching up of Lumumba road have stalled and motorists are angry with the Road Development Agency (RDA) for abandoning the road that has become a grave safety issue.

The agency started patching the deplorable Lumumba road after complaints from motorists that the road was threatening life and property.

A check by the Daily Nation found gravel and culverts dumped on Lumumba road but no workers in sight.

Amos Siwali, a motorist, said shoddy works by RDA were annoying because they were not consistent with what was expected of them.

He said RDA dumped gravel sand which had been slowly washed away by rains and culverts lying on the road.

“These RDA people are now annoying; they have abandoned works on Lumumba and Mungwi roads, causing more traffic because of the heaped gravel sand,” he said.

Another motorist accused RDA of not being serious with work, accusing them of  wasting taxpayers’ money by patching the road with shoddy works and cheap labour.

Earlier, a motorist Mr Rahid Rashid said the road was no longer safe and destroyed beyond repair because it had outlived its lifespan, hence RDA should construct a new road to safeguard the lives of citizens.

“Driving on Lumumba road is risky because anything can happen. Besides, this road has claimed many lives due to its poor state and some drivers are very careless on the road,” he said.

He said RDA should move in quickly and find temporal measures of stabilizing the road while waiting for a permanent solution to be found.

Kelvin Mubanga, a truck driver, said small vehicles were being destroyed due to the state of the road, particularly the shocks.

And Brian Kasengo, a taxi driver at Zambian Breweries, Mungwi road, said the gravel that was used to patch the road had contributed to the mud and congestion, making it difficult for vehicles to move due to the slippery state of the road.

But RDA director for communication and corporate affairs Loyce Saili said plans were underway by the agency to re-construct Lumumba, Mungwi and Airport roads in the second phase of the road development programme.

Ms Saili said the programme was part of the L400 project and the agency was waiting for release of funds for works to commence.

“We are patching Lumumba road although it is not a long term solution because the road has outlived its lifespan, hence our long term solution is L400 which is coming in phase II,” she said.