Washed Away Culvert On Mansa-Samfya Road Replaced

Work has started to replace a degraded culvert pipe on the road connecting Mansa to Samfya, which channels water from the Chimana stream under the road. 

The washed away culvert has led to the town of Samfya being entirely cut off from the rest of the country since last Saturday. 

Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development Charles Mushota announced that construction was underway following the release of K5 million by the treasury. 

Mr Mushota said the works are being carried out by BSBK Ltd., the contractor also responsible for rehabilitating the road between Musaila and Kasaba in Luapula Province. 

He said on Monday that the works were expected to be completed by Friday. 

The damage was likely the result of the heavy rains Zambia is currently experiencing. 

BSBK Ltd. project manager Siraj Basu said he had taken on between 50 and 60 staff to complete the works. Once the culvert is repaired they will work on a 70km diversion, although the main aim is to open up the road to motorists as soon as possible. 

In the past the relatively high cost of construction of roads has been a source of political contention. A 2018 World Bank report claimed that the median cost of construction and upgrading of paved roads under 100km was US$457,000 per km per lane, and for roads over 100km the median cost was US$360,000. 

The report, entitled ‘How to Borrow without Sorrow’, states that Zambia’s roads are expensive compared to other countries in the region and while the cost of bitumen and cement is a contributing factor the reason for the high costs relates more to “poor public investment management (especially a lack of competitive tendering) and long delays in payments.”

The report also noted that, “the higher costs of road building increase the avenues for corruption.”