THE Government should decentralise operations of the Road
Development Agency (RDA) to enable the institution to respond quickly to the
issue of poor roads countrywide, Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) executive
secretary, Muyunda Ililonga has said.
Mr Ililonga, who was commenting on the poor state of roads in
Kitwe, said the Government should review operations of institutions responsible
for maintaining infrastructure, such as RDA.
He said while recognising the efforts being made by the
Government to rehabilitate roads in Zambia, the rate at which this was being
done should be accelerated.
"The scope of work required to be done is large considering
that almost the entire road network in Zambia has broken down," he said.
Mr Ililonga said fixing the broken-down roads required an
ambitious programme and that this could not be effectively achieved with the
centralised system of operations of RDA.
He said the functions of the agency should be looked into with
the view to decentralising them.
Mr IIilonga said RDA would be in a better position to make quick
decisions and implement them for road rehabilitation.
"It is a challenge for RDA to make quick decisions and
implement them in districts such as Kitwe because of the large scope of work
the agency is faced with," Mr Ililonga said.
He was concerned with continued delays to implement the project
for upgrading of the Kitwe-Chingola Road into a dual carriageway.
"The Kitwe-Chingola Road is cardinal and strategic to the
national economy and yet it is in a bad state and serving as a death
trap," he said.
And Mr Ililonga implored the Government to take advantage of the
unique position the mining sector held in terms of technological advancement to
enter into partnership for rehabilitation of roads.
He said the Government should enter into agreements with the
mines to repair roads on the Copperbelt and agree on how the mining firmswould
pay taxes for specified periods of time.
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