MACHILA WORRIED WITH RDA INERTIA AT EXPEDITING ROAD WORKS IN KAFUE

Kafue area Member of Parliament Bradford Machila has appealed to the Roads Development Agency (RDA ) through the Ministry of Works and Supply to expedite plans and programmes for the urban roads rehabilitation in Kafue District .

Mr. Machila who is also Livestock and Fisheries Development Minister says the state of roads in Kafue urban areas were deplorable and council alone cannot manage to work on them.

Mr. Machila said that he was getting worried at the inertia by RDA because preliminary assessments under the accelerated road rehabilitation programme were done but stalled on account of funding constraints two years ago.

Mr. Machila said it was imperative that works are undertaken if possible before the onset of rains to alleviate the plight of road users, pedestrians and general residents of Kafue. He stated that an estimated 20 kilometer tarred road is in need of urgent repairs.

Mr. Machila noted that whilst the council was using a grader for some of the roads in untarred areas, there is need for RDA to complement roads which are tarred.

Meanwhile,  the area Member of Parliament has demanded an explanation from RDA why there is inactivity on the Gotagota Bridge on the Chongwe lesser river in Chieftainess Chiawa’s area of Kambale ward. He said several government officials including ministers, permanent secretaries and RDA officials have inspected the bridge but nothing has been done.

Mr. Machila said the status of the bridge is well known by RDA  and wondered why it taking too long to address the situation. He said the bridge has been collapsing since 2000 whenever the area experiences heavy rains and floods.

Mr. Machila said the continued inertia by the agency to work on the bridge is not only endangering lives of school children but also agriculture and tourism activities in the area.