Minister dissolves Roads Funds Board amid spate of crashes

Mbeya. Works, Transport and Communications minister Isack Kamwelwe on Thursday July 25 asserted that he would no longer wish to hear about incidents of road accidents haunting residents of Mbeya Region.

The minister has instead directed the new Roads Funds Board in the country to ensure it supervises the reconstruction of the Mlima Nyoka-Mbalizi Service Road at the gravel level for trucks to pass through.

Kamwelwe gave the directive on Wednesday after dissolving the previous Roads Funds Board in the country and relaunching a new one in Mbeya Region.

The minister has directed the new Roads Funds Board to ensure it supervises the reconstruction of the 40km road that passes outside the City of Mbeya.

He clarified that the road’s feasibility study had already been carried out and contracts signed, saying the road’s construction funds would be released by the World Bank (WB).

However, the minister said the government would not wait for the release of the WB funds while residents were perishing in road accidents.

He has directed his ministry’s permanent secretary to ensure the road was constructed at the gravel level, starting the 2019/2020 Financial Year.

Earlier, Mbeya Regional Commissioner Albert Chalamila told the minister that many accidents occurred in sections of roads, whereby it was not easy for traffic police to control them from happening.

 “We have been facing many incidents of road accidents to the extent of giving statements that OCD or RPC might not work well, forgetting that road accidents occur in road sections that do not need RPC as they are out of his control,’’ said Chalamila.

He mentioned the dangerous areas that regularly caused accidents and cost the lives of people and their properties as including the hills of Igawilo, Nyoka, Iwambi and Chunya.