Engineering Institute seeks demolition of ‘Long Acres’ bridge, 50% of Lusaka-Ndola road project

President of the Engineering Institute of Zambia (EIZ), Abel N´gandu, says it will seek ´legal advice´ on the possible immediate demolition of the controversial fly over bridge adjacent the new Long Acres Mall, which he described as dangerous and embarrassing.

N´gandu claimed that the bridge in question did not serve any purpose.

“That bridge does not serve any purpose. It is an embarrassment and it is dangerous and we will seek legal advice for it to be demolished,” said during a programme on radio phoenix on Saturday.

He promised to do everything within his institutional legal authority to bring down any structure that failed to meet bare minimum standards as set by the law such the Long Acres Mall bridge, sometimes referred to as an ´albatross´ of modern-day engineering.

N´gandu pledged that it was in the EIZ interest to ensure that Zambian engineers got a fair share of business locally and not the wrong end of the stick as the case had been for a while via successive administration where foreign companies enjoyed preferential treatment above locals.

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Meanwhile, he has asked the government to play fair and give local engineering firms at least 50 percent of the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriage way road project.

This project was recently awarded to a foreign consortium under a public private partnership (PPP).

“We need to get at least 50 percent of the Lusaka Ndola dual carriage way as local engineers.

“The notion that local engineers cannot do the job is a totally false narrative because we do great jobs as much as foreign companies, it is only fair that we get a fair share of local jobs,” N’gandu said.

On February 28 this year, government signed a US$650 million, 25-year PPP Concession Agreement with Macro Oceans Investment Consortium (MOIC) to construct a 327Km dual-carriageway between Lusaka and Ndola, one of the most important economic roads in the country amidst protests from local civil society, opposition and EIZ.

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