29/04/2025
Let me tell you a story (with a question at the end). This is "based on a true story":
The government of Zambia decided in 2017 that they wanted the entire route from "North End" (Kabwe Roundabout) in Lusaka up to the "Ndola Central Hospital" roundabout to become a "dual carriageway". The route is 320 kilometres using existing roads and includes part of the T2 (Great North Road) and part of the T3. They decided that Kabwe and Kapiri Mposhi should both have bypasses built to the west. They also wanted to fix a road in the Copperbelt Province known as the M6 road, amounting to 41 kilometres, from the Masangano Junction near Kafulafuta to Fisenge and from Fisenge to the Luanshya town centre.
On 08 September 2017, the "President of Zambia" at the time did an "introductory commissioning" of the project (ground-breaking). He said that the entire project will cost $1.2 billion and that a company named China Jiangxi (CJIC) would do the works. When the project started, it was clear that the works were happening from Lusaka going northwards towards Ndola.
In June 2021, one of the newspaper companies in Zambia published that the Ministry of Finance had instructed the Road Development Agency to halt the project, as the country officially had "financial constraints". By this time, only the section within Lusaka District was a dual carriageway, that is from "North End" (Kabwe Roundabout) to "Six Miles Roundabout". Just to translate, "6 miles" is "10 kilometres". So, only 10 kilometres out of the 320 kilometres had been complete 4 years less 3 months after the "President of Zambia" launched the project.
In August 2021, the nation of Zambia went into elections at ward, constituency, district and presidential levels. A new "President of Zambia" was elected. After he had appointed his initial cabinet, they concluded that "the project was overpriced" and as such, they quickly cancelled the deal that was made in 2017 with China Jiangxi (CJIC). After doing this, the "Minister of Finance" and the "Minister of Infrastructure, Housing & Urban Development" promised their citizens that they will continue the project soon but at a reduced cost. They admitted that indeed, the country had "financial constraints".
During the year 2022, it was revealed that the project will be done using a "Public-Private Partnership" (PPP) and that other road projects in the nation would follow suit.
On 28 February 2023 in Ndola, a new "commissioning" was done for the project and it was announced that the company that will continue this project is named "Macro-Ocean Investment Consortium" (MOIC), which consists of various companies, at a cost of $577 million. The government stated that it will not put a penny from its treasury towards this project, instructing the contracting company to find all the money needed itself. So, the company was going to "borrow" money from other sources to fund this project. The amount needed was soon adjusted to $650 million.
The company was told that they have "3 years" from that date to complete the entire project of rehabilitating the M6 road (41 km) and making the Lusaka-Ndola road into a dual carriageway (320 km). Afterwards, the method that would be used to pay the company back would be letting them keep any money received from the existing and yet-to-exist toll gates on both the 320 km and 41 km roads up to the year 2048. This would mean that the National Road Fund Agency would not be the one receiving money from these particular toll gates. They would have to wait for the year 2048 before these two roads and the toll gates on them become "their responsibility" again. Macro-Ocean Investment Consortium took over all responsibility to maintain the road. The government would merely be a "shareholder", receiving "dividends" and "taxes" from the amounts MOIC would receive.
From the $650 million, MOIC agreed to borrow $300 million from the national pension scheme authority, while borrowing $50 million from the worker's compensation fund control board and getting the rest of the money from an unstated source.
The 320 km section had 3 toll gates at the time (Lusaka - Chibombo; Kabwe - Kapiri Mposhi; Kapiri Mposhi - Ndola) and as part of the agreement, a fourth toll gate was going to be built (Chibombo - Kabwe). Also, a toll gate would be built on the 41 km section (Masangano - Fisenge). Overall, Macro-Ocean Investment Consortium would be receiving money from "5 toll gates" up to "28 February 2048" when they are scheduled to hand over both roads back to the nation's Road Development Agency. The amount of traffic would determine the amount the toll booths receive.
Macro-Ocean Investment Consortium was doing their work diligently, convincing citizens that the 320 km dual carriageway will be complete by the deadline during the year 2026. Also, in early 2025, they had completed their work on the 41 km road (Masangano - Fisenge - Luanshya) and opened the new toll gate. Travellers were impressed that the 320 km road was actually being converted into a dual carriageway at a much-faster pace than it was during the previous presidency, although the fact that a new toll gate would soon exist between Chibombo and Kabwe was not something for travellers to be happy about.
At some point during the year 2026, the 320 km section will entirely be a dual carriageway with 4 toll gates and the towns of Kabwe and Kapiri Mposhi will have bypasses to the west, meaning that non-stop traffic will not have to pass through the town centres. Citizens will judge at the end of it all if they are happy with the way the project was done.
The end.
Now, let me ask a few questions:
1. It is stated that when it hit 4 years after the first president commissioned the Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriageway construction project, only 10 km out of a total of 320 km had been made into a dual carriageway. Would you regard it as a disappointment from the government and the construction company they appointed? What do you think could have led to the problem of financial constraints? Was a project launched without the money being present?
2. The company that was chosen to continue the project in February 2023 settled for an amount of $577 million, before adjusting it to $650 million. What possible reasons could be there for the amount to have been split by almost half from the initial $1.2 billion regardless of where exactly the money is meant to come from?
3. As per Public-Private Partnership procedure in Zambia, the government decided that it will not put a penny towards the project. As such, the company resorted to going to various "lenders" and those lenders turned out to be state-owned enterprises. Do you recommend for these state-owned enterprises to be "lenders" like this or should have they "invested" their offerings in this project in a different manner?
4. As per Public-Private Partnership procedure in Zambia, the private company would take ownership of the toll gates, both already-existing and about-to-be-built, on the applicable roads up to the year 2048. Any money that will be received from the toll gates will go to the private company, with the government only claiming "taxes" and "dividends" that they are supposedly entitled to. The company would also have to do maintenance works on the road. By the time we reach 2048, after the private company has paid back all its borrowed money with interest to the lenders and all its statutory requirements to the government treasury, do you expect the private company to be left with a small or large profit from the toll gates?
5. Seeing as the country claimed to have "financial constraints" at some point in the year 2021, do you believe that this method of creating the dual carriageway using a "Public-Private Partnership" was a necessary step to take? Do you think it was right for the government to choose a method in which all the financing needed for the project would have to come from the private company alone?
6. Overall, what do you believe are the "rights" and "wrongs" in the approaches that were taken by each government towards building the dual carriageway (320 km) and rehabilitating the M6 road (41 km)?
Thanks for reading.
