Kitwe’s Chimwemwe residents up in arms over footbridge delayed works

By ROGERS KALERO

RESIDENTS of Kitwe’s Chimwemwe township have expressed concern about the slow pace at which Kitwe City Council (KCC) is working to complete construction of Chimwemwe East footbridge.

The local authority reportedly took over the works because inadequate funds were allocated to the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) project.

Kitwe town clerk Patrick Kambita said he needed to talk to the municipality’s director of engineering to update him on a number of outstanding projects in the city before he could issue a statement.

But Mariana Bupe, a resident of Chimwemwe, said she had received information that the footbridge was a CDF project but that the local authority decided to do it in-house due to inadequate funds.

She said under normal circumstances, a contractor should have been engaged to execute the project instead of the municipality. 

“We are told this is a CDF project, which is being done in-house by council employees because funds were not adequate for the project. So the council could not engage a contractor. The challenge is the procurement of materials, which has delayed completion of the project

“But to tell you the truth, this council, especially the management is incompetent. The whole explanation for the delay of the project does not make sense.  Why should the council take over a CDF project because of inadequate funds allocated to the project? Honestly, to me as a lay person, it does not make sense,’’ Ms Bupe said. Another resident identified as Charles Sankata said the local authority was derailing Government’s efforts to deliver development to Zambians through CDF.