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(LUSAKATIMES) We treat both foreign, local contractors equally- Saili

COMMENT - 'Government has no sufficient funds' so tax the mines!

We treat both foreign, local contractors equally- Saili
Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 10:06

The Road Development Agency (RDA) has dismissed claims that it was favouring foreign contractors in awarding contracts for road construction.

RDA head of public relation, Loyce Saili said the agency does not favour any contractors when awarding contracts but was offering equal opportunities for local and foreign contractors.

Mrs. Saili said all contractors bidding to win road construction contract were given an equal playing field but noted that local contractors needed to improve their capacity in terms of technical, equipment and trained personnel.

She disclosed that some local contractors have failed to execute projects they were given in certain parts of the country.

She said there was need for local contractors to partner with foreign contractors to enhance their capacity in road construction and rehabilitation in the country.

Mrs. Saili has meanwhile said the agency has embarked on rehabilitating and upgrading city roads in Lusaka to address the problem of congestion.

She said disclosed that the agency recently constructed the Lumumba-Kamwala by-pass road at a cost of over K10 billion as a way of easing traffic congestion in the city.

Mrs. Saili said the agency was also rehabilitating roads in Ibex hill, Avondale and Twin Palm road at a cost of over K57 billion.

Commenting on the Ndola-Mufulira road, Mrs. Saili said the road requires re-construction but noted that it will gobble huge sums of money.

She said the estimated cost per kilometer of the Ndola-Mufulira road is K3.5 billion.

She said currently, government has no sufficient funds to reconstruct the road noting that it would be worked on next year when funds are secured.

Mrs. Saili explained that most urban roads on the Copperbelt and other parts of the country require major overhaul, mainly rehabilitation and reconstruction work.
She said the road network of urban roads that needed to be worked on was around 5,000 kilometers at the rate of over K3 billion per kilometer.

Mrs. Saili however observed that some contractors, who have been engaged by RDA to do work, have performed very well while some have not performed satisfactorily.
She said the contractors that have not performed well will have their contracts terminated for poor performance.

She explained that the RDA does not take pride in terminating contracts it was obliged to ensure that contractors met the required quality of roads which will give tax payers value for their money.

Mrs. Saili said the whole K1.3 trillion that was budgeted in the 2009 RDA annual work plan for roads, has been used and roads been.
ZANIS

Labels: CONTRACTORS, ROAD DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, ROADS

posted by MrK @ 12:14 PM