Zambian road agency bridges the gap

24 Feb 2017 - by Adele Mackenzie

Following the collapse of

a portion of the Batoka/

Maamba road following

flash floods in Zambia last

week, the Maamba Collieries

Limited (MCL) created a

temporary bridge by sealing

the chasm with rockfill.

When the chasm appeared,

trucks loaded with coal

destined for the Copperbelt

and the Democratic Republic

of Congo (DRC) spent

the night on the side of

the road, said MCL head

of construction, Pantulu

Gogulapati.

“We spent about five hours

filling up the affected portion

with over 100 truckloads

of rockfill as a temporary

solution,” he said.

The Facebook group, SA

Long-distance Truckers,

brought the damaged road to

FTW’s attention, with retired

engineer, Murray Wasik

posting on the group’s page

that he had travelled that road

many times in the early 1970s

when he was a Caterpillar

service engineer working at

Maamba mine. “It was one

dangerous road, with the

Kenworths and old Fiat trucks

hauling coal to the railhead,”

he said. Operators on the site

were largely blaming poor

construction for the damage

to the road.”

The Zambian Road

Development Agency (RDA)

told FTW that the chasm was

seven metres wide and had cut

off traffic from Maamba and

Sinazongwe to the rest of the

country’s southern province

and the capital of Lusaka.

Loyce Saili, director

of communications and

corporate affairs at the

RDA, said the agency was

making arrangements to

mount a bailey bridge at

the affected point. “Bailey

bridge components are

being mobilised from

RDA provincial offices in

the Mongu and Central

provinces,” she said.

Saili added that engineers

had also been dispatched

to “thoroughly assess” the

damage to plan a long-term

solution.

She said this was not the

road in Zambia affected,

noting that a section of the

Luangwa Feira Road had been

damaged following heavy

rains and suspected earth

movements. The RDA has

dispatched a team of engineers

to investigate the possible

cause of the damage. “In

addition, we have instructed

the contractor, China Geo, to

immediately mobilise to site

to help remedy the situation,”

Saili said.

CAPTION

A collapsed portion of the road near the Sikanungu stream about 43 kilometres from Batoka

in Zambia.

Photo: SA Long-distance Truckers