By FLAVIOR CHISHALA –
THE company supervising the rehabilitation of the Great East Road has urged authorities to control the movement of over-loaded trucks which are exerting pressure on the road.
Lotti and Progetti Engineering resident engineer in charge of Lot 2 of the Great East Road works Gianmarco Dall’acqua said there was need to put up measures that would control the axle-load that was moved on the road.
Dr Dall’acqua said the investment put in the rehabilitation was too huge, hence the need to take good care of the roads.
He said this yesterday after he led a Road Development Agency (RDA) team on a tour of the road.
“We have noted that most of the trucks that pass on this road are overloaded and have proved to be a burden for the road. So the Government must apply absolute control on the axle-load if this road is to last,” Dr Dall’acqua said.
He said out of the 95 kilometres assigned to his company, a stretch of 92 kilometres, including four-kilometre sidewalks, had been completed.
He said the contract included replacing bridges that were usually washed away by rain.
Dr Dall’acqua said that the Great East Road was a busy road which, if not well-maintained, would not reach its 20-year life span.
He said about 400 local people, among them, women benefited from the project through employment.
The Sinda-Katete-Mtenguleni Road is being rehabilitated by Mota-Engil Contractors from Portugal.
The project was funded by the Government and the European Investment Bank at the cost of 43.4 million Euros.
RDA vice-chairperson Phidelia Mwaba said the Agency was doing everything possible to control the axle-load on the road.
Ms Mwaba said it was the desire of the Agency to see to it that the quality of works were according to standard.
“We want a situation where we can have over-loaded trucks offload excess weight at our toll gates apart from just charging them,” she said.
And Chipata residents in Eastern Province are happy with the rehabilitation of township roads which has been completed.
Those spoken to said the development was long overdue as roads in the area had claimed a lot of lives because of potholes which resulted in cyclists being knocked down by motor vehicles.
Kenytius Banda, a cyclist, said inclusion of cycle paths would help the situation since bicycles were used as a means of transport in the district.
“We are very happy that they have included us because in the past roads were very narrow and usually created conflict between cyclists and motorists,” Mr Banda said.
Resident engineer for Egis International which is working on the Mtenguleni-Chipata Road, Edward Chidziya, said it was important that pedestrian’s lives were protected.
Paramount Chief Mpezeni of the Ngoni people commended RDA for changing Chipata’s outlook through road rehabilitated.
The paramount chief urged the Agency not to listen to negative talk from ungrateful people but instead concentrate on what they were supposed to do.
“We are very happy with this development and we know that you cannot impress everyone, so just keep up with your work,” Paramount Chief Mpezeni said.