Stakeholders in Lusaka say they are ready to deal with floods that may affect the city during the 2022/2023 rainy season.
Both Engineering and Public Health departments under the Lusaka City Council indicated their readiness to mitigate any calamities before, during and after the rainy season.
They said this during the District Development Coordinating Committee meeting held today.
Chief Health Inspector in the department of Public Health, Collins Siame said cleaning and waste collection in the city has been intensified ahead of the rains.
Mr Siame also reported that the problem of waste keeps growing in Lusaka especially in the Central Business District but the department will not relent to ensure timely collection of waste is done.
He explained that out breaks of diseases such as Cholera, among other waterborne related diseases, have been a wake-up call to the department to ensure preparedness is highlighted to mitigate the outbreaks.
“The havoc that the Cholera outbreak caused a few years back was a wake-up call and this calls for all stakeholders to be proactive and prepare adequately in addressing calamities,” said Mr Siame.
And Isaac Banda from the Engineering department under the LCC, said cleaning and unblocking of drainages has since started and called on members of the public to desist from throwing waste in drainages.
Eng. Banda reported that communities in Lusaka have been divided into zones with each zone having a contractor unblocking and clearing drains before the onset of the rains.
He also disclosed that the department has also increased on man power by deploying more officers to work on the drainages.
“We have increased on man power and we have now deployed more workers to work on the drainages,” said Eng. Banda.
Speaking during the same meeting, the Muslim Social and Welfare Trust Coordinator, Mubasshir Mehta called for the revamping and renovation of borehole not operational in communities in order to improve water supply and sanitation.
He said stakeholders can collaborate and have a deliberate policy to revamp on non-functional water points.
Mr Mehta said some boreholes in communities are not functioning due to minor problems that can easily be worked on with periodic maintenance.
“Periodic maintenance of some boreholes in communities in Lusaka is what is lacking to keep these facilities servicing the people,” he said.