Poor Road Network in Luanshya Town

Luanshya was one of the biggest economic contributors to the Zambian economy as it was one of the largest producers of copper. It has gone through a number of transitions over the years even attracted the name ‘GHOST TOWN’ because its hard ships after the closure of the mines but one of the major results has been the road network.

The road network in Luanshya is very bad, Compounds such as Zambia City, Walale and Buntungwa, just to mention a few, the roads  have not been maintained as this was done through the old Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM).

Early this year the former mine was privatised to the Chinese, who have no clear policies on corporate social responsibility and one of them being the roads of Luanshya.

Luanshya Copper Mines had signed an agreement with the Local Council that they would be paying them to work on the Roads. The Council way back used to engage Contractors to work on these roads as in mending and grading them. For Luanshya Copper Mines this was their admission to Corporate Social Responsibility But now the Council is no longer working on these roads.

Challenges faced

• A lot of pot holes in these roads cause cars to get stuck especially in the gravel roads.
• These ports holes have caused damages to the motor vehicles such as finishing car shocks and so on and so forth.
• With the poor roads a lot of business enterprises are not able to trade in these areas

Recommendations

• There is need to raise awareness in these compounds so as to enlighten these communities so that there can be one and the same voice.

• There is need to hold Advocacy campaigns so as to make the Government under the Local Council Authority to deliver the services that is required of them.
• The Government also under the Local Council, Residential Coordinating Committee (RDC) has allocations for such works; they should prioritize on working on the roads which are badly damaged.

 Prepared By,

Bridget Champo