By DELPHINE ZULU –

THE Road Development Agency (RDA) has terminated a road contract worth K81.9 million awarded to Mivami Road Constructions Limited for the rehabilitation of township roads in Chingola.
The agency was forced to terminate the road contract due to poor performance and failure to complete the task according to schedule which resulted in massive protests by minibus and taxi drivers in Chingola.
RDA senior public relations manager, Loyce Saili said the RDA was forced to take such a drastic decision against Mivami Road Constructions because it had delayed to complete the project which started in April 2012 and was expected to finish in April 2013.
She said Mivami was awarded a contract to a tune of K81.9 million with 15 per cent paid and has since warned that RDA would continue to use the vendor rating system to identify all the erring contractors to avoid being awarded future contracts.
“RDA will continue to use the vendor rating system because it shows who scores higher and lower in terms of works, so all those found to be scoring low will not be awarded contracts in future,” Ms Saili said.
Ms Saili said Chingola like other towns on the Copperbelt was an economic hub of the country and wanted to ensure that all road contracts whether township or main roads were timely delivered.
She advised road contractors to engage the RDA each time they faced any challenges than abandoning works in the process at the expense of national development.
She has since promised the people of Chingola that RDA would undertake the Pave Zambia 2000 project to compensate for the long suffering they had been subjected to by the previous contractors.
She said in addition to the 23.5 kilometres, RDA had added an additional of 50 kilometres of township roads to be done by a new contractor who would be engaged once the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) completed the tender process.
On the Kitwe Chingola dual carriageway, Ms Saili said her office was impressed with the works done so far which had reached an advanced stage.