Copperbelt minister, Matambo, fumes over poor quality of Ndola–Sakanya highway

Less than two years after the construction of the Ndola-Sakanya road, which connects Zambia to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the highway has developed potholes, forcing contractors to begin patching the damaged stretches.

Responding to public outrage, Copperbelt Minister, Elisha Matambo, toured the deplorable sections of the road and instructed the contractor to redo the damaged parts.

“Using Copperbelt language, I can say ‘uku kutugonga uku’ – this is duping us. This road has been poorly executed, to say the least,” Matambo said.

He said it was unacceptable for contractors to start patching a newly constructed road that already had large damaged sections.

Matambo said government did not want to see a repeat of what happened at Kakoso Bridge.

“We don’t want what happened at Kakoso Bridge, where the bridge was washed away, to happen again,” he said.

Matambo also observed that supervising engineers from the Road Development Agency (RDA) had been a letdown.

He said that whether the road project was implemented under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) or not, the RDA still had the duty to supervise the works.

“Even if I am not an engineer, there is a road which was done about 38 years ago by Phoenix Contractors and it is still intact. But a road completed less than two years ago is already undergoing patching,” he wondered.

RDA Roads Engineer, Bernard Zulu, assured that the agency was in touch with the contractor to address the situation.

Meanwhile, He Dayu, Project Manager for Turbo Kachin Consortium Limited representing Jaswin Ports Limited, defended the works, saying the repair works being carried out were within the required standards.

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