Minister of Infrastructure, Urban and Housing Development, Charles Milupi has disclosed that works on the Ndola-Lusaka Dual-Carriage Way Road project will commence before August this year.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS Kitwe today, Mr. Milupi said the delay in the commencement of the project has been caused by the provisions of the laws under the Public-Private Partnership Act of 2021 with regard to financial closure.
The Minister said the provided period for the contractor to bring together their financiers to agree on the model of ensuring sustainable financing of the road project is six months.
He however said that there is a possibility that the works can even start earlier than that.
“We signed the contract, we are following the law, the law says when you sign the concession, you give the concessioner six months within which to reach financial closure, anything outside this is outside the law and we are a government of law, but we are on course,” he explained.
He stated that the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project approach was a very good way of rehabilitating and upgrading the Lusaka-Ndola road although some people criticized the move.
The Minister said no person in the right state of mind would criticize the project model because the government has found a cheaper way of doing it compared to the cost that had been projected by the predecessor.
Mr Milupi said government wants to ensure that it improves the road Infrastructure in the country in the next four years.
Early this year, government signed a $577 million concession with Macro – Ocean Investment Consortium to work on the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway.
Meanwhile, Copperbelt Minister Elisha Matambo has disclosed that government will work on the Chibuluma road before the end of this year.
Speaking during the Copperbelt Motor Show in Kitwe over the weekend, Mr. Matambo said government will work on all the major roads in the province this year.
He cited Mufulira Mukambo road, Ndola – Mufulira road, Chililabombwe – Kasumbalesa road and the Chingola – Chililabombwe road as some of the critical roads also earmarked to be worked on this year.
Early this year, government cancelled the Chibuluma road project citing unavailability of funds.