By DELPHINE ZULU in MONGU –
THE Road Development Agency (RDA) is impressed with the quality of work on the Mongu-Kalabo Road.
RDA Risk and Audit board members touring the progress of the project said the works were on course and they were impressed with the designs and quality materials being used especially on the 26 bridges being constructed on the Zambezi River.
Delegation leader Chishala Kateka said the committee observed that Avic Constructions International tasked to work on the project required qualified materials due to the location of the area which was sandy.
“This is the first time this road and bridges are being constructed, people here had been using boats and pontoons from way back, now for this to be done, it needed qualified people with special expertise, I must say we are totally impressed with the works so far,” Ms Kateka said.
She advised that it was vital to conduct thorough feasibility studies in future if many roads were to be done across rivers to avoid losing huge sums of money.
She said the road was among the expensive ones in the country.
Resident engineer, Salah Gad said the bridge might be handed over to Government five months before the actual period given because Avic International was working tirelessly looking at how desperate the community was suffering to travel on the river.
Mr Gad said all the actual works had been done although the major problem faced was the sourcing of materials because Western Province was too sandy.
He said  in some places  the constructors had to dig up to 50 metres.
“We are confident that this project will be handed over to Government five months before completion date which is April 11, 2016, reason being that most of the major works have been done so far,” he said.
He said the bridges under construction were of two types, full concrete and composite having concrete deck and steel girders adding that to date, 25 out of the 26 bridges were nearing completion at various stages while temporal bridges had also been constructed.
The contract was awarded to Avic International at a cost of US$ 286,935,922.70 with US$134 million having been spent so far.