Zambia: Chembe Bridge to Boost Luapula Province Economy
The Times of Zambia (Ndola) - 30 May 2008
The Easterners have the Luangwa bridge, a delicate and strategically placed infrastructure acting as the lifeblood of the province, the people of Luapula will now have Chembe Bridge.
What for decades were perpetual political rhetoric driven promises which some politicians used as a launch pad for their easy way to amass votes from the unsuspecting electorate: replacing the pontoon at Chembe with a bridge and the tarring of the pedicle road has finally come to reality under President Mwanawasa's rule.
The people of Luapula Province can now breath a sigh of relief after some politicians shrewdly failed to honour their social contract by failing to construct a bridge across the Luapula River at Chembe.
A series of development programmes being spearheaded and implemented by the Government in Luapula Province are now acting as a clear demonstration that politicians are capable of delivering the promised development to the people. After being personally affected by nightmares of traveling from Mufulira in the Copperbelt to Kashikishi in Luapaula to buy fresh fish for sale with his father, President Mwanawasa vowed to do something to end the woes of the traveling public on that route.
Young Levy's childhood ambition was to contribute towards ending the traveller's misery once he grew up by contributing to the construction of a bridge across the Pedicle Road. Dr Mwanawasa, who is a lawyer by profession, told a crowd which recently welcomed him at Mansa airport that he once even considered studying engineering for the sake of contributing towards the construction of a bridge to end the Luapula-bound travellers' nightmare. After assuming the office of Republican President, he embarked on a mission to solicit for funds from some friendly foreign governments to support the ambitious construction project.
"When I was elected President, I worked hard to raise the funds for the construction of the bridge. I tried the Japanese and the Indian governments but they did not buy the idea of funding the project.
"We had no option apart from raising the needed resources locally and we finally brought the Chinese who agreed to construct the bridge," he said.
Acting on behalf of the Zambian Government, the Road Development Agency (RDA) engaged, an engineering consultant firm, to manage the project and China Henan International to construct the 320 metres-long bridge within a period of 18 months at a cost of K46.3 billion.
SET-BACKS
The project which was supposed to be completed by March this year faced a number of set backs which range from natural disasters such as floods, difficulty in accessing some of the required building material on time and other logistical problems.
The time for the commissioning of the bridge has since been extended for another six months.
RDA director, Erasmus Chilundika said his organisation which was mandated to supervise the construction and maintenance of all the major roads and related infrastructure on behalf of the Government was satisfied with the manner in which the construction of Chembe Bridge was being done.
Works and Supply Minister, Kapembwa Simbao, said the fact that the bridge was near completion was an indication of Government's commitment to improve infrastructure in the country.
Mr Simbao said constant checks by the RDA and government officials was allaying the falsehoods doing rounds that there was nothing going on at Chembe despite so much publicity from the Government.
Chembe Bridge construction project managers, Kiran and Musonda Consulting Engineers say all the funds allocated for the massive construction venture were prudently managed.
The company's director, Henry Musonda states that K31 billion had been paid out for the construction of the bridge, whose total estimated cost was K46.3 billion.
The contractor faced some hardships in accessing the 1,200 tonnes of cement needed for the construction of the bridge's 3.8 high deck.
They first tried Tanzania but faced trade problems, they tried South Africa but failed and in the end, they settled for Botswana which meant coveringa a haulage distance of2,200 kilometres to bring the cement.
China-Henan International, the contractor assured the President that despite being blacklisted by the ministry of Works and Supply, the project would continue and the workmanship would not be compromised.
He said his company would continue observing the laws of Zambia. The bridge is expected to have a life span of over 100 years.
Ten of the 13 segments of the bridge have been completed.
EFFICIENCY
Chembe area member of Parliament (MP), Mwansa Mbulakulima, who is also Copperbelt Minister, says the construction of the landmark bridge across the Luapula River is not only going to play a catalyst role in transforming the economy of Luapula and its neighbouring provinces but also leave a legacy of President Mwanawasa's rule.
Mr Mbulakulima says the construction of the bridge will also benefit the people of Northern Province and the east African region.
He explained that once the Pedicle Road was tarred and the bridge across the Luapula River was commissioned, the number of hours taken by motorists from Mufulira to Mansa would be shorter.
The people of Luapula are happy and grateful after the President hinted that the Pedicle Road would be tarred.
The Chembe MP says the road has been upgraded to acceptable standards and the good relations between the Zambian and DRC government have improved the plight of the people traveling on the pedicle road.
"Cases of armed robbers attacking motorists, especially long distance buses are no longer an issue," he said.
EXCITEMENT
The project has brought a lot excitement to both the ordinary people and traditional rulers in Luapula who are now expecting a lot of development projects to take place in the province.
Luapula Province Minister, Chrispin Musosha, said the people of Luapula would always be grateful to President Mwanawasa for constructing the bridge. " The bridge is not only going to benefit the travelling public and promote trade to and from Luapula but other parts of east and central Africa will benefit," he said. A resident from Luapula, Chibwe Nsankasha, who is also MMD provincial chairman said the Government was committed to the construction of the bridge.
Mr Nsankasha said the pumping of billions of Kwacha in various initiatives aimed at transforming the province's economy was being appreciated by the locals regardless of their political affiliation.
"The people of Luapula will always appreciate President Mwanawasa's leadership style. We are all happy with the manner in which the President cares for the people of Luapula despite the fact that the opposition received more votes than the ruling party during the 2006 presidential and parliamentary elections," he said.
Provincial Permanent Secretary, Clement Siame said the Government had embarked on setting up several tourism, mining, agriculture and fishing projects worth billions of Kwacha, which were all aimed at transforming the economy.
CONTROVERSY
Controversy over what would be the suitable name of the bridge has over the past months surfaced.
The people of Luapula and some road users have been embroiled in a bitter debate over what could be considered as the suitable name for the bridge. Traditional rulers have also added their voice to the protracted debate.
Speaking on behalf of the Mansa-based traditional rulers and their subjects, Chief Kasoma-Lwela of the Ushi people said the decision to name the newly constructed bridge after President Mwanawasa which was endorsed by a full Mansa Municipal Council meeting was being backed by chiefs. "As chiefs in whose land the bridge is situated we feel the decision to name the bridge after President Mwanawasa is final and we would like to assure you sir that this decision is final," he said.
Chief Kasoma-Lwela, who was flanked by Senior Chief Milambo thanked Dr Mwanawasa for showing personal commitment towards the construction of the bridge.
The chiefs thanked the President for upgrading Chembe Basic School into a high school and for the construction of a modern market at Chembe.
CHALLENGES
Chief Kasoma-Lwela said now that the construction of the bridge was almost complete, the Government remained with the challenge of convincing DRC authorities to assist in funding the tarring of the Pedicle Road.
"The biggest challenge to Government is to negotiate with the sister Republic of the DRC to be part of the Pedicle Road construction project," he said. He said the construction of the Pedicle Road would make travelling to Luapula from the Copperbelt economical. He was hopeful that once the bridge was constructed and other developmental initiatives took off, Chembe would be a district on its own. Dr Mwanawasa urged the chiefs and the people of Chembe who he thanked for supporting his Government, to take good care of the bridge which had a 100-year lifespan incuding other infrastructure Government was developing in the area. The President observed that the successful completion of the construction of the Chembe Bridge was a sign of other good things to come from the Government.
"During the next six years, the people of Zambia will see more sites with development projects taking off and I will be launching and commissioning others during the same period.
"This is my way of demonstrating that we are a working Government. We want to demonstrate that there is a lot that we can do, a lot as far as national development is concerned if we the national leaders and ordinary people only stop insulting each other," Dr Mwanawasa said.
