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Court construction stalls in Kapiri Mposhi
Kapiri Mposhi, 12 May 2014, ZANIS – Construction of a Local Court building in Kapiri Mposhi district has stalled due to erratic funding.
And the Judiciary has continued to conduct Local Court sessions in a former council bar without running water and appropriate sanitary facilities.
The construction work which commenced last year was scheduled to be completed in March 2014 but has however been delayed due to non release of funds by the Ministry of Justice to the contractor, AVOTECH Construction. The work has stalled to window level.
Kapiri Mposhi Magistrate In-Charge, Ackson Mumba confirmed the development in an interview, today.
Magistrate Mumba said the court building to house the court annexe, staff offices and other necessary facilities was allocated K 264,000 but only K 60, 000 has been released for initial works.
He disclosed this when Deputy Secretary to Cabinet, Peter Kasanda inspected progress at the execution of the project over the weekend.
Magistrate Mumba said that the Judiciary in the district has continued to conduct local court sessions in a dilapidated formerly tavern building which it was renting from the council.
“The building is not fit for us to conduct sessions in… it does not encompass necessary court facilities because it was designed to be a tavern and we have made a lot of shortcuts to operate in it,” Magistrate Mumba said.
He said the building has no running water making it unsuitable for conducting court operations.
Magistrate Mumba feared the outbreak of diseases because of lack of water and toilets at the premise.
“necessary actions need to be taken to facilitate the release of remaining funds to complete the construction of the court building to enable us hold sessions in a kempt and allowing environment,” Magistrate Mumba said.
And Ambassador Kasanda has bemoaned the increased cases of delays in implementing certain government projects in Kapiri Mposhi District.
He noted with dismay that projects that could have been completed within a year were taking as long as five years to be finished.
He advised line Ministries and implementers to prioritize funding to ongoing projects to facilitate their timely implementation.
Ambassador Kasanda observed that delay in execution of projects was costly on the part of government.
He said this after inspecting the progress at the construction of the District Commissioner’s (DC) House, Local Court Building and a 1 X 3 staff house at Kapiri Mposhi District Hospital
He was concerned to note that construction of the DC’s House which commenced in 2009 at the total cost of K 270,000 has now gone up to
K 400,000 due to lapse in time.
The DC’s house was earmarked for completion in 2011 while construction of a one by three staff house to accommodate medical staff at Kapiri Mposhi District Hospital has been abandoned by the contractor due to lack of funding.
