Some residents of Mkowe Ward in Kasenengwa District have expressed concern with the bad state of most roads in the area.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS today, Christopher Mbewe said most roads in the ward have remained in a bad state for a long time while there has been no proper programme for road maintenance.
Mr Mbewe said transporting farming inputs and taking farm produce to the nearest market is a challenge due to the bad state of most roads which even become impassable during the rainy season.
He added that even transporters charge more for moving inputs and farm products to the market, citing the bad state of roads as one of the reasons.
Mr Mbewe cited the Malochi-Mkowe road as one of the many roads that have not received a facelift for a long time.
‘’As people of Mkowe ward, we are very much concerned with the bad state of most roads in our ward such as the Malochi Mkowe. We are even paying more to have our farming inputs and farm produce transported because of the bad roads,’’ he said.
And another resident Charles Phiri wondered why the motor grader that was procured by the Kasenengwa Town Council last year has not yet started working on the roads.
Mr Phiri said people were hopeful that the state of most roads in the district will improve after the local authority procured the earth-moving equipment using the Constituency Development Fund (CDF.
Meanwhile, Council Public Relations Officer Kamela Ntambo said the local authority is aware of the bad state of the Malochi-Mkowe road.
Ms Ntambo, however, mentioned that much power has been given to the people to choose developmental projects they want to be worked on and they can apply to have the road rehabilitated through the Ward Development Committee (WDC).
She said if the WDCs put road rehabilitation as a priority, they have the right to budget for the procurement of fuel to be used in the grader using the 2023 CDF.
Ms Ntambo acknowledged that the motor grader that was procured using 2021/22 CDF has not yet started working on the roads in the district as there were no funds allocated towards the procurement of fuel last year.