THE move by Government to award Southern African Business Development Forum a 25-year concession to do 11 roads under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) is commendable but they should consider doing concrete rather than the conven- tional asphalt roads, former Vice President Enock Kavin- dele has said.
Mr Kavindele said that he hoped that the roads to be constructed in North-Western, Western and Southern provinces would be concrete and not asphalt because it was more durable and less costly.
The newly appointed council of ministers on PPP had approved the US$3.7 billion project which was initiated by the Patriotic Front Government.
He said the other reason was that all the raw materials needed to construct concrete roads were available locally unlike depending on materials from outside the country.
Mr Kavindele said the country would be assured of at least 50 years guarantee with- out any repairs while it would be a different scenario with the asphalt roads.
He said that countries like Ghana and India had embarked on such projects because they had realised that this was cheaper to manage in times like these.
For example India in 2014 switched to making concrete roads and they have been doing so from then be- cause of the ben- efits that come with such roads,” Mr Kavindele said.
He said Government need- ed to seriously look into this matter because the roads would accommodate huge trucks which would be carry- ing heavy loads.
Mr Kavindele said that it would be folly for the government and its partners not to consider this route to avoid unnecessary expenditure.
