Construction Of Ndola-Lusaka Road The Worst Scandal-GBM
The construction of the Ndola-Lusaka dual carriageway that Edgar Lungu commissioned on 8th September, in Chibombo is one of the greatest scandals of our time,” says United Party for National Development (UPND) vice president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba.
“We wish to state clearly that the UPND is not at all opposed to the project, in actual fact, the dual carriage way was supposed to run from Livingstone to Solwezi. What is of major concern to us is the quoted amounts for the project, wherein lies the scandal,” Mwamba popularly known as GBM said.
He said Zambians should at least appreciate the simple fact that the PF government is a highly corrupt government with no good intentions for the general populace apart from enriching themselves.
“The UPND has, times without number, pointed out the thieving, by a select few in government, that takes place in road contracts even as early as 2012.
Mwamba said this is the very reason the Road Development Agency(RDA) was put under State House, entirely for easy access and control of such contracts and funds.
The UPND leader said roads have generally been expensive in Zambia as compared to other SADC countries. Mwamba said the PF government has been pegging road contracts at a whooping One million US dollars (US$1 million) per kilometer, whereas other countries in the region have been spending only Four hundred thousand US dollars (US$400,000) per kilometer.
“The good question that a responsible citizen should therefore ask is where the US$600,000 per kilometer balance goes to. Zambians will realize that the PF government spends less on roads and more on enriching themselves.
But this new Contract, ironically awarded to China Jiangxi, is just mind boggling, outrageous and a serious scandal that might land people in prison should there be accountability in the near future.
There is no sensible way a kilometer can cost a ridiculous US$3,7 million. This simply means that over US$3,3 million per kilometer is going into people’s pockets, a huge scandal that should worry every well meaning Zambian,” he said.
Mwamba said the money assigned to a kilometer is enough to make 8 extra kilometers, which means 2,568 extra kilometers can be made by the end of this project, if Zambia had a responsible government.
“To bring this into perspective, the distance from Zambia to South Africa is 2,000 kilometres – this means we, as a country, have enough money to make a tarred road of good quality from Lusaka to Johannesburg. Who would imagine we had such capacity?”
“We sincerely ask the PF government to introspect for once and put citizens first. There is too much, without need to mention anything, that can be achieved using this money for the benefit of citizens.
At the end of it all, someone one day will have to account for this recklessness.”