According to the Zambia Tourism Board this nation surrounded by eight neighbours has over 40,000 kilometres of roads, only 8,200 kilometres of them tarred and another 8,000 kilometres all weather gravel road. The rest are made of compressed laterite and vary in condition from reasonable to rather bad, being vulnerable to the seasonal rains. A recent review of the condition of urban roads revealed that 60 percent of the urban road network is in poor condition, but it’s the trunk network that has the greatest impact on Zambia’s economic development, and the road network plays a critical role in the development of the country and the region as a whole.
That’s why the RDA recently launched its Link Zambia 8000 road project, also known as the Accelerated National Roads Construction Programme. A total of 8,201 kilometres of roads will be built or upgraded over a period of five years at an estimated cost of K28.4 trillion. Link Zambia 8000 aims to connect Zambia’s population centres with those of its neighbours, create 24,000 jobs, especially for young people, grow local industries and contractors, cut travel times creating hubs of economic growth in outlying regions.
Angola, DRC, Tanzania, Malawi Zimbabwe, Botswana Namibia and Mozambique are all growing fast, so roads like the T4 or Great East Road, which links the capital Lusaka with the Mozambique port of Nicola are vital to trade and tourism alike. A key 360 kilometre section of this road between Luangwa Bridge and Mwami Border is taking priority for rehabilitation and upgrading as part of the Nacala Road Corridor Project from Nacala to Lusaka through Malawi and is an excellent example of the urgency with which the RDA is pursuing its agenda.
The work is being jointly funded by the Government of Zambia together with the European Development Bank, The African Development Bank, the Agence Française de Développement and the European Union. The rehabilitation and upgrading works are being implemented in four separate contracts. Good progress is being made with procurement for both supervision and civil works and tenders have now been launched by the RDA for all four sections. It is planned that all four contracts will start at the same time 1st April, 2013 with completion expected in the first quarter of 2015.
Once competed the new section will not just boost export trade but at the same time reduce accidents and bring down the operating costs for logistics companies in the region, all among the RDA’s strategic objectives.
On the other side of the country Zambia faces the DRC with its enormous economic potential. A $207 million contract was signed in December for the design and construction of a new road between Luwinga and Mansa, a mere 100 kilometres from Lubumbashi. The contractor China Henan will be starting work in the first quarter of 2013 and expects to complete the work during 2016. “The construction of the Mansa to Luwingu Road will provide a shorter link between Copperbelt and Luapula provinces,” says CEO Bernard Chiwala and though the bulk of the work will be carried out by international contractors, he promises that local contractors must benefit. It is a condition of all contracts that 20 percent of the work should go to local contractors – that is, businesses that are majority owned by Zambians. The objective of this policy is to help build the construction sector in Zambia as a whole, and reduce unemployment – however a key benefit will be the resulting transfer of skills, and the stimulation of entrepreneurship making Zambia more self reliant over time.
2012 was a defining year in the six year history of the RDA, says Chiwala. Last year the government of Zambia allocated 17 percent of the National Budget to the road sector alone, the largest allocation given to any sector in recent history. The total roads budget for 2013 is around $600 million from the Zambian government with as much again being contributed by external agencies such as the EU, COMESA, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and international contributors like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. An increasing contribution comes from the road fund fuel levy. A road user charge tariff was introduced in the form of fuel levy from 1 May 1993. When it was identified that the deterioration of the road network in Zambia and the consequent loss of road asset value was caused by inadequate funding and poor management. In 201219 percent of expenditure on roads came from the fuel levy: in 2013 that rose to 27 percent.
Another source of funding is being promoted. THE Road Development Agency (RDA) plans to start building a toll-gate system across Zambia's national road network by the end of the year, says Bernard Chiwala. He said the RDA expected to raise about 25 percent of its annual budget from the planned tolls. “We have appointed a road tolling manager and in the next four months, they will begin to prepare for installation. We will install them on 17 selected sites which we have already identified.” The planning stage will be completed by June, with construction starting in the second half of 2013, he says. And tolls will apply on the Great East road too, once the upgrade is finished.
The routes the RDA will initially focus on tolling are those linking Livingstone, the busiest tourist centre and Nakonde on the Tanzanian border. But many new projects will be subject to a similar funding model. A good example is the Kazungula Bridge project linking Botswana and Zambia at a point now served by a pontoon. Under an agreement signed at the end of last year the $124 million project would be funded by the government of Japan through Japan International Development Cooperation (JICA), the African Development Bank and the government of Zambia. The project includes the construction of a new tolled road and railway bridge with one-stop border post facilities and access roads at Kazungula. It will take four years to build the 3,028-foot bridge," said Chiwala. Tolling will address the added impact of trucks on the roads – commercial vehicles will pay proportionally more than cars, and these funds will go toward the maintenance of the roads.
Finally, the RDA plans to sell $1.5 billion of bonds by the end of this year. The agency has presented a plan for the sale to Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda and approval is expected soon, said Bernard Chiwala: “Toward the second half of the year we will have concluded that,” he said. “It is our expectation that we will be able to raise about $1.5 billion” from international investors.” It’s a neat financial arrangement, with the security for the bond issue deriving from revenues from the road toll programme. Whatever the source of funds or the contracting model, the RDA will always keep sight of the goal, to promote the national interest of Zambia. “Better roads that meet world standards are what the people of Zambia want to see from this point going forward.”
Written by John O’Hanlon, research by Abi Abagun
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