Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development Vincent Mwale says government is aware of the damage caused by the rains to various infrastructure in the country.
Mr Mwale explained that government through the Road Development Agency (RDA) and Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) has also moved in to cushion the impact of the damage.
He pointed out that RDA is rehabilitating the damaged infrastructure such as bridges and roads while DMMU is providing shelter and food to the affected communities.
Mr Mwale said this in parliament today when he was responding to a question from Serenje Member of Parliament Maxwell Kabanda.
Mr Kabanda wanted to know whether the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development has any plans to engage the Builders Brigade from the defence forces to complete construction works on roads and buildings, countrywide, that have stalled due to austerity measures.
“Government has no immediate plans because the undertaking will require termination of the existing contracts and government may incur cost after terminating the contracts. But we are working with RDA to ensure that we work on the damaged spots and also DMMU is providing shelter and food,” he stressed.
And Monze Central Member of Parliament Jack Mwiimbu asked the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development on what government is doing to work on the damage to infrastructure caused by the rains.
In response, Mr Mwale underscored that government is embracing an in-house mechanism to undertake rehabilitation and construction projects.
He cited the Zambia National Service (ZNS) as one of the government departments that are being engaged in doing rehabilitation works.
The Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development further said all secondary schools in the country will be built by local engineers in order to build local capacity.
