Africa-Press – Zambia. The Government through Road Development Agency has opened a Call for Expression of Interest for the construction of a dual carriageway on the Ndola-Lusaka motorway using the Private Public Partnership model
According to a notice issued by the RDA, the government will from March 11th, 2022 start receiving Expression of Interest documents from interest private firms to develop and operate or maintain 327KM from Lusaka to Ndola.
The successful bidder will also be required to rehabilitate 45KM of Luanshya-Fisenge-Masangano road. The PPP model will also include the Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer Basis in collaboration with the PPP Department at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning.
The bid will also involve the upgrade of the road to a dual carriageway by rehabilitating approximately 327KM of the existing road, constructing approximately 327KM of a new road, and constructing 40KM of a bypass in Kabwe and Kapiri. The project will also include the rehabilitation of 45KM of Masangano-Luanshya-Moo6.
RDA says this is important in order for the road so that the road to fulfilling its function as a Regional, National and International road network providing for safe operation of various vehicle configurations, pedestrians, and non-motorized transport for a period of at least 2-25 years by encouraging private-sector enterprise and resource to undertake infrastructure development through PPP’s.
The project also involves the Construction of Toll Plazas, Construction of township access roads in Kapiri, Kabwe and Ndola. Construction of weighbridges.
The Expression of Interest documents can be purchased at a cost of US$10,000 from RDA Headquarters. On 8 September 2017, former President Edgar Lungu commissioned the construction of the Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriageway.
The PF government had proposed that the route construction would transform the T2 Road (Great North Road) from Lusaka to Kapiri Mposhi, together with the T3 Road from Kapiri Mposhi to Ndola (a total distance of 320 kilometres), into a dual carriageway to ease the movement of vehicles such as trucks, buses, and motor vehicles and reduce on accidents.
As part of the same project, they also planned to do works on the 33-kilometre M6 Road from Masangano Market in Masaiti District to Fisenge in Luanshya District (as a shortcut to Kitwe was be used by motorists wishing to avoid Ndola on the trip to Kitwe.
The dual carriageway would require bypasses around the towns of Kabwe and Kapiri Mposhi together with some grade-separated interchanges where necessary.
Together with the already-existing Ndola-Kitwe Dual Carriageway and Kitwe-Chingola Dual Carriageway in the Copperbelt Province, this proposed road would provide a faster and safer journey from Lusaka to DR Congo.
At the moment, the entire T3 from Ndola to Kapiri Mposhi, together with the T2 from Kapiri Mposhi to Lusaka, is a single carriageway with one lane in each direction.
The total cost of this 320 km road, after several increments, was finalized at $1.2 billion and construction began from Lusaka going northwards. Some sections of elements strongly criticized the high cost of the road, as it would cost just over $3.7 million per kilometre.
However, only the section of the T2 (Great North Road) within Lusaka, up to the Six Miles Roundabout, had been completed as of 2021, with the Ministry of Finance ordering for the Road Development Agency to halt the project, citing financial constraints.
On 5 August 2021, a week before the Elections, while commissioning the opening of the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport in Ndola, President Lungu promised to resume the Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriageway project immediately if he would win the 12 August elections of 2021.
In August 2021, newly-appointed Infrastructure, Housing, and Urban Development Minister, Charles Milupi, stated that the road would cost less than $1.2 billion under President Hakainde Hichilema’s government.
In early 2022, Hon Charles Milupi stated that completing this dual carriageway was of high importance. He stated that they would resume works on that road at a reduced cost after the rain season.
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