ZESCO Spokesperson Henry Kapata has advised AFCONS to be patient with the power utility company over the process of relocating underground power lines to pave way for roads under the Lusaka Decongestion project.
It has been emerged that road works in Lusaka have certain parts not completed resulting in delays and the contractor AFCONS has attributed that the delays are actually being caused by ZESCO and the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company – LWSC who have delayed relocating their lines despite been paid.
Kapata has told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that relocating highly sensitive installations like those of ZESCO requires cautiousness and not timeframe to ensure a good job is done to avoid putting the lives of people in danger.
He said the company is currently working on a number of projects across the country and relocation of power lines on road projects has already began, therefore AFOCNS needs to exercise patience as their roads will soon be cleared in no time.
“Routing installations is not like switching off a candle, it needs to be done cautiously hence it’s important for them to realise that when they engage us to do our professional works, they should leave it to us, we don’t work on timeframe with regards to such installations, we work with caution,” He said.
The Lusaka decongestion project is seen as a solution to making doing business in the capital easy, as traffic jams had reached an unprecedented level were working hours were being lost in traffic, impacting negatively on productivity.
Residents has also been taking to social media and morning traffic radio shows to vent their frustrations on being caught up in heavy traffic jams leading to higher stress levels. This is one reason why the Lusaka decongestion project is key to improving quality of life for the capital city residents.
