An old gripe of transporters working the north-south line in and out of the Copperbelt on the border of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has resurfaced – shocking road conditions.
This morning, a cross-border haulier known to Freight News, pleaded with the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations to intervene, as road surfaces in Zambia’s Copperbelt province are so bad they’re adding to the usual tangle of traffic often experienced up north.
Talking about the stretch of road north of Chililabombwe before trucks pass into the DRC’s Haut-Katanga province at the Kasumbalesa border crossing, the transporter said: “Just done that road. Wow it’s a mess! Some very serious potholes. You have to stop and then try and manoeuvre through.”
Such is the difficulty truckers are having to get to the border, an 11-kilometre-long queue was said to be stretching from Kasumbalesa to Chililabombwe this morning.
Heavy rainfall in the area has made matters worse for the queueing trucks.
“We have had trucks stuck in the mud and having to be pulled out,” said the transporter, whose name is being withheld for fear of victimisation.
Another transporter, working the same road freight route linking the Copperbelt with ports to the east and south, said it was an old problem, and asked why transportation fees weren’t being used to improve roads on important commercial routes.
It’s not the first time the comment has been made – that road freight tariffs aren’t spent on what they’re meant for – improving infrastructure to better facilitate trade in and out of Zambia and the DRC’s thriving mining areas.
Apart from the stretch of road north of Chililabombwe, there were also comments about the condition of another road to the east, which stretches from Mufulira to the border at Mokambo.
