The EU Infrastructure team visited the Great East Road rehabilitation project (25/04/2014)

During last week's visit the EU Engineering Adviser Mr Stephen McCluskey noted the progress of the works so far and stated that he hoped that the momentum being demonstrated would continue. He said that "Now that the rains have come to an end, I hope that we will be able to open the diversions and begin the main body of the works as soon as possible. The long term benefits of the rehabilitation will far outweigh the temporary inconvenience that we will experience and I believe that the residents of Eastern Province appreciate that."

The project concerns the improvement of about 360 km of single carriageway highway on the Great East Road connecting central Zambia to its eastern province, as well as to the Nacala Corridor, a regional transport corridor linking Malawi and Zambia to the deep water port of Nacala in Mozambique.

The project is co-financed by the EU under the 10th EDF together with European Investment Bank (EIB) and the French Development Agency (AFD).

Interesting facts

  • The works in Lot 1 (Luangwa Bridge to Nyimba) are taking place in an environmentally sensitive area and the Contractor is taking great pains to ensure that the works respect the area. In fact there will be no diversions in Lot 1 for this reason.
  • Service providers have been employed to offer HIV/AIDS awareness and road safety programmes.  Drama performances, training of Peer Educators, promotional materials and public meetings are all part of this process.
  • During the site visits, the EU adviser took the opportunity to visit the school and health centre at Kafunka to ensure that they are not being adversely affected by the works in any way (noise or dust for example). During the visit the students were presented with footballs which they were very pleased with and they demonstrated some of their skills there and then.
  • Eastern Province Road Development Authority is invited to attend all of the progress meetings which take place and they have noted the progress of the works and the positive attitude on display on the part of the supervisors and the contractors. They are looking forward to having a much improved road within two years.
Training Participants at end of training

More background

Prior to the ROADSIP intervention, all Zambian roads suffered from an absence of routine and (planned) periodic maintenance. ROADSIP introduced the concept of the 'Core Road Network' within which the objective is/was to rehabilitate all roads to maintainable standards and thereafter to sustain these standards through budgeted periodic maintenance.

The Great East Road is one of the key international trunk routes connecting Zambia with neighbouring countries .

The T4 is also part of the regional North-South Corridor between Dar-es-Salaam and Durban. In addition, the Great East Road project will also contribute to the strengthening of the Nacala Corridor infrastructure.

The road was originally built as a 6.1 m wide carriageway with gravel shoulders. The current project provides for the strengthening of the road and construction of paved shoulders.

With the financial assistance of the European Union, through the European Development Fund (10th EDF), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency (AFD) as well as through the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Government of Zambia is now implementing the rehabilitation and strengthening of the road.

Photo Gallery

Diversion works are underway for Lots 2 and 3 (Sinda - Mtenguleni and Mutenguleni - Mwami Border). In these photographs we can see the preparation of the diversion road and a bridge in Lot 2 which will soon be demolished and rebuilt. The diversions are being constructed according to the contract specifications and will carry the T4 traffic during the works (including trucks and buses).The contractor is constructing an area where rock can be crushed for use on the road. The rock will be blasted from a nearby source and fed through a series of crushers and screens to obtain the desired sizes.Lot 1 starts at Luangwa bridge and continues to the town of Nyimba. The contractor is currently preparing a quarry area (where asphalt will also be prepared for use on the road). At the present time, the contractor is preparing an area of 'cut and fill' which will be a re-alignment of the carriageway. The re-alignment will remove an 'S' curve for the purpose of improving road safety.At Madzimoyo the contractor is preparing an area to crush rock for the road construction. There will also be an asphalt batching plant at this site which will serve both Lot 3 and Lot 2. The asphalt plant has been delivered from Poland and can be seen in the background.Road safety during the execution of the works is being treated with the utmost seriousness. Here we can see a selection of the temporary signs which will be used to direct the public during the execution of the works. Site Safety specialists are working to sensitise the public who live around the works and the RTSA is working in close coordination with the Contractor and the Supervisor.