09 Apr 2020

The coronavirus pandemic will partially affect the completion of the Kazungula Bridge project.  

The project was scheduled to be completed in August this year but the rate of production is reported to be partly reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Yes in a way, it will affect the time of completion of the project, “said Project Manager (Botswana), Mr Pius Seone in an interview.

He said it was not business as usual and they only measured progress with what they had achieved in a month not in a day but production had reduced though not that much.
 
Mr Seone said one challenge was lack of materials like steel because the supplier was in Gaborone and unable to supply on time due to the measures in place to curb the spread of coronavirus. 

He also said the erection of the railway line by CALCON Construction Company, which started two months ago, had also not been completed due to circumstances beyond control.  

Furthermore, he explained that apart from being a contractual agreement, the construction of the project had to go on as planned provided there are measures in place to minimise risk. 

He said one of the measures that the management of the project had put in place was to work on shifts in order to promote social distancing, hand sanitizing and putting on masks, amongst the many. 

“We do not have to compromise what the health authorities tell us. We are open to their guidelines and advise,” he said. 

Mr Seone said every worker had to work within the site and anyone seen going beyond the site was considered high risk. 

In addition, he explained that the issue of social distancing had been addressed. 

“The good thing is that most of the work is done by machines and people are planted in different sections to do minor works,” he said. 

Mr Seone also stated that they had reduced the number of meetings between Botswana and their counterparts in Zambia. 

He explained that if there was need to have a meeting, only 15 members from the technical team would be allowed to attend the meeting. Ends