Maravi

Lukulu MP accuses Chinese contractor of flouting EU rules

Lukulu MP accuses Chinese contractor of flouting EU rules
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:06:13 PM

LUKULU East United Liberal Party (ULP) member of parliament Batuke Imenda has accused a Chinese contractor of not fully adhering to the European Union (EU) road upgrading conditionalities on the rehabilitation of the Lukulu-Kaoma road.

And Western Province MMD chairman Simasiku Namakando said the rehabilitation of the road in question, which he described as a death trap, was not properly done.

Imenda charged in an interview yesterday that the failure by China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC) to follow the performance based road contract conditions specified in the EU funded project had caused the 192-kilometre stretch to deteriorate to unacceptably dangerous levels.

“A Land Rover belonging to the district office of the Ministry of Agriculture in Lukulu got involved in an accident at Nang’andu on New Year’s Day. The vehicle was badly damaged,” Imenda said. “Among the four people who got injured in the accident was the council secretary for Lukulu, Mutakela Kabombo, who was admitted at Lukulu District Hospital.”

Imenda said this latest accident followed numerous others that occurred on the same road in the recent past and expressed sadness that despite being aware of the problem, CGC had not moved in to rectify the defects.

He said motor vehicles were overturning at Kashamba area almost on a weekly basis.

“CGC is aware of all these accidents but they do not seem to care about the loss of property and injuries incurred by road users. Several reminders have been communicated to rightful CGC authorities by the Road Development Agency (RDA) and my office but the advices are falling on deaf ears,” Imenda said.

“The terms of the contract are very clear. CGC will maintain the road for four years from the year of completion of construction of the road.”

Optimum Performance-based Road Contracts (OPRCs) demand that motorists could drive at a minimum speed of 40 kilometres per hour without fear or hindrance by the poor state of the road.

“I implore the Ministry of Works and Supply to speed-up the process of tarring the Lukulu-Kaoma Road,” said Imenda.

And Namakando said the quality of gravel that was used in the rehabilitation process was of poor quality, as it became slippery and muddy during the rainy season.

“There are a lot of accidents that have taken place on that road, some have not been reported. One of the first victims was myself. I had a serious one in 2007 on the same road. It is a very bad road,” he said. “I have requested the Minister of Works and Supply to visit that road with that contractor; that road must be redone.”

Namakando said the people of Western Province had overwhelmingly voted for the current administration and that there was need for the government to reciprocate by improving roads such as the Lukulu-Kaoma, Mongu-Kalabo and Shangombo-Sesheke roads.

But RDA manager for construction and maintenance Stephen Malubila assured that the contractor would revisit some of the bad sections of the road.

However, Malubila said it was usually problematic to construct roads in the Western Province because of the difficulties involved in transporting road construction materials, given the sandy terrain.

“If you transport materials over a long distance, it means the road becomes unaffordable but we will revisit some of those locations on that road,” he said. “It may cost a lot of money but we will find a way around.”

Malubila revealed that a study to find locally available materials that could be used in road construction in the province was underway in the Sesheke-Senanga area.

“A lot of contractors are at times scared that if they do road works in the province, they will be blacklisted because of the above inherent problem of materials,” said Malubila.

Labels: BATUKE IMENDA, CAR ACCIDENTS, CGC, CHINESE, INFRASTRUCTURE, MUTAKELE KABOMBO, ROADS, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO

posted by MrK @ 7:07 PM