LUSAKA-NDOLA DUAL CARRIAGEWAY ON HOLD

By SILUMESI MALUMOGOVERNMENT has suspended the controversial Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway project due to financial constraints.Housing and Infrastructure Permanent Secretary, Danny Mfune, said the government would not proceed with the project.Mr Mfune said there had been challenges to finance the much-talked about project because of unavailability of funds. He said in an interview yesterday until such a time when funds would be secured the works would not resume.“For now, I don’t think Government is going to proceed because of the same finances. The government has not yet secured the funds so we may not start in the near future.“So at the moment it has been put on hold that is what I can say not until the funds are found for the project,” Mr Mfune said.In 2017, President Edgar Lungu launched the commencement of the Lusaka- Ndola dual carriageway project. At the time, the Head of State said the US$1.2 billion project was expected to be completed in 48 months and would stand as a legacy project for the Patriotic Front Government.He said the Lusaka-Ndola carriageway would be the artery of Zambia’s economic development as it opens to the mining hub as well as connects Zambia to the SADC region and COMESA.