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The ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) has described the Ndola-Mufulira Road contract awarded under the previous Patriotic Front (PF) administration as fraudulent, alleging that no work was done despite the government receiving K300,000.
UPND Media Director Mark Simuuwe made the remarks during a media briefing in Lusaka on Wednesday, held at the Anderson Kambela Mazoka Party Secretariat.
Simuuwe said that despite receiving the funds, the PF government failed to deliver even a single kilometer of road works on the key Copperbelt route.
“I would call this contract a fraud. The PF government got K300,000 for the Ndola-Mufulira route, but not even a single kilometer was done,” Simuuwe said, calling on law enforcement agencies to recover the funds.
He added that President Hakainde Hichilema had prioritized infrastructure development on the Copperbelt due to its critical economic importance.
“Even in opposition, President Hichilema warned that this road was overpriced at $2.1 billion. It’s now being done for less than half that amount,” he said.
Simuuwe also announced that government had allocated K3.1 million to each of the 22 districts in the Copperbelt for township roads under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), with instructions for local authorities to prioritize grading and construction before the rainy season.
He cited several ongoing infrastructure projects in the province, including the Mpongwe–Machiya Road, Machiya Bridge, and Kalengwa Road in Lufwanyama District, which are being executed under Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements.
“The Copperbelt is the only urban province in the country, and this government has deliberately prioritized it because of its economic benefits, not only to Zambia but the entire SADC region,” he said.
Simuuwe also revealed that the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway project had reached 25 percent completion and created over 3,000 jobs, according to the Road Development Agency (RDA).
He further urged transparency in CDF reporting, singling out Lusaka District for failing to publish project details. He said the UPND media team had asked the Deputy Mayor to publicly share the status of implementation.
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