This comes about two weeks after residents in the township threatened to close the road used by motorists as a diversion on grounds that they rehabilitated it on their own with own resources.

However, the Council’s Director of Engineering Services Chimwemwe Mndelemani, says they have commenced procurement process for the rehabilitation works.

“So far there is progress that has been made. We have made an application to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority  (PPDA) to ensure that works are procured according to legal procedure in the country,” he said.

He added that they are now waiting to hear from the PPDA, “probably any time from now they are going to give us approval to use what we call restricted tendering method for procurement.”

He said expectation is that they will take less than two weeks to engage the contractor and that the works will take less than four months.

“So far we have identified diversions. These are existing roads which can also serve the public alternatively,” he said.

One of the communities leaders, Barnabas Komakoma, has asked the authorities to consult them first on how they are going to do job, saying they need to know if the renovation will also include the damaged waterways.