Zambia is a country on the move. Literally. As the economy grows all categories of vehicles have witnessed a substantial boom as the figures in the chart below shows. In fact the stock of vehicles has doubled over the last 5 years. More vehicles necessarily means more economic and social connectivity. But it also means more air quality, noise problems and road accidents. Going forward it certainly means more road congestion and therefore more road investment. The big challenge for government is clearly how best to manage this rising demand for road use.
Question : How well is the government dealing with the rise in vehicles and general road usage? Share in the comments below.
Chola Mukanga | Economist | Writer
Copyright © Zambian Economist 2013
As indicated in the chart, my great concern is that of the massive increase of heavy load vehicles. There is no doubt that heavy vehicles consume much of the road life and not only that, but overloading is so rampant. There is need to stiffen up the rules, check ups and designing roads with great consideration for safety measures. Government need to act more robust on all ongoing road programs
ReplyDeleteIt's time to think about toll lanes and a separate highway system for heavy load vehicles otherwise there will be no roads to talk about. In the inner city, rail might be the way to go and civilians might want to consider car pools. As westernized as these suggestions may seem, they will save time and money in the long run.
ReplyDelete- Just my two cents-
I agree with "Zambia buzz" but surely looking at the congestion level, it seriously requires an intervention. In economic terms, I think a city like Lusaka, looses millions in human productivity due congestion considering time as a factor. Improvement in the whole road network, pedestrian walk way, public transport/lanes would much to increase in economic productivity as time of movement would be significantly reduced
ReplyDeleteI came across an interesting article today from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), China is apparently proposing a license plate lottery in an effort to curb pollution and limit the number of vehicles on the road. Consumer reaction is what is even more interesting... Chinese civilians are opting to buy more expensive and newer vehicles, this may be a win-win. You can access the rest of the article here http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323420604578651471077993746.html?mod=e2fb
ReplyDeleteDaka, I agree with you, the congestion in Lusaka is unbearable, it would be interesting to do a study on how much productivity is being lost owing to the congestion, perhaps this might prompt action from the government.
-Just my two cents-
This is a good peace of information !
ReplyDeleteThe government should put in place Monitoring and Evaluation tools to keep an eye on these growing trends of vehicle infux as well as economic growth and put measures such as revenue collection through toll fees and toll gates on every road besides the existing revenue systems to enable the communication mode to generate its own resources for future reinvest in road projects and routine maintainace.
I do agree with you that Monitoring & Evaluating tools need to be central in ensuring the quality, improvements and developing of roads. Right now, most of great roads are death ways due to sub standards works.
ReplyDelete