Mpulungu port upgrade on card

TIN news:         Government is conducting a feasibility study on Mpulungu Port to modernise it by linking water transport to road and railway systems to ease access to transport network.
The Government has also registered 251 new motorised water vessels this year.
 
Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications maritime and Inland Waterways Department registrar of vessels Chanika Nondo Kaunda said the Ministry is trying to link water transport to rail and roads network.
 
“We have ports and harbours and one of the port is Mpulungu which is undergoing a feasibility study. As soon as, it is properly done and modernised, it will have access to the rail and road network linking the harbours,” he said.
 
Interpreting this year’s theme, “Prosperity through Business Reforms and Linkages”, Mr Kaunda said this fits well with the inter-model transport network the ministry is trying to do by linking the rail, water and road network system.
 
He said at the on-going Zambia International Trade Fair yesterday.
 
Mr Kaunda also said while the ministry has not yet started licensing canoes, over 200 new motorised vessels have been registered this year.
 
Meanwhile, Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications planning and monitoring department senior planner Lewis Mwila said Government has ordered dredgers worth over K300 million from United States of America to be distributed across the country.
Mr Mwila said Government will receive all the machinery by October next year to be used to enhance water bodies.
 
“One dredger cost K12 million and Government bought 25 from the United States. The contractor has started the job of manufacturing. We have started receiving them, but by October next year, we will have all of them delivered,” he said.
 
He, however, expressed concerns at the safety of navigation on water as many lives have been lost on water.
 
He said Government is also buying passenger and cargo vessels to help ensure safety on water transportation.