Government should work on roads before the onset of rains

Lusaka 13/09/22 – THE Zambian Roads & Highway Safety Group (ZRHSG) is urging the Government and the Roads Development Agency (RDA) to work on all damaged major roads before the onset of rains.

The Highway Safety Group notes that most roads that were damaged by rains in the last rain season have not been fixed this year.

This means that the onset of rains will wreck double havoc on roads already damaged from last year’s rains and made worse by this year’s movements of vehicles.

The Highway Safety Group hopes that with the remaining few weeks before the rains, RDA will release funds for repair and painting of the busy roads so they are passable during the wet season.

“The Highway Safety Group members would therefore like to make themselves available to volunteers to paint the Great North Road in the stretch between Kafue and Kabwe passing through Lusaka, to make this road easy to drive on and to improve night time driving, if RDA would make the reflective paint available to the Group,” says Group Admin Mthoniswa Banda.

The Highway Safety Group hopes to see improved road maintenance in the coming few months with more companies being given contracts to look after these roads.

“The Road Safety Group is also urging the Government to review the way the road sector is currently being managed between the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) and the Roads Development Agency (RDA) so as to find a much better way of responding to the challenges of potholes and general damage to our roads,” says Group Admin Mthoniswa Banda.

The Highway Safety Group notes that as things stand it takes a very long time for a pot hole or any damage to the highway to be mended and it has taken ages for the identified trouble spots to be fixed.

There is need for road constructors to be hired on long term basis to be in charge of fixing specified stretches of the highway and clearing of broken down traffic