“Underground parking the solution?”
The increase in mining activities on the Copperbelt in the recent 10 years has seen a rise in traffic.
There has been a steady growth in disposable incomes for people on the copperbelt. Most people are now able to save some of their disposable income to buy used Japanese cars. My observation is that in Kitwe in particular, a greater number of households have acquired a used Japanese private car or commercial vehicle irrespective of the part of Kitwe that they come from. It does not matter whether one lives in Kapoto, Twatasha, Zamtan, Kandabwe or Chimwemwe, owning a car now is no longer a preserve for the affluent in Parklands, Riverside or Nkana East.
A walk through the city centre on a Sunday would give you a picture reminiscent of the era up to the mid 1990’s when there were a few cars .It is easy to cross from one side of the road to another without much ado. You are able to see clearly how beautiful the city from one end of the avenue to another.
On a busy Monday morning the picture changes, as all that you can see are vehicles of all types crowding all city centre roads like a bunch of termites. You can hardly have a clear view of one end of street to another.
Parking a vehicle is another hustle. You can hardly find parking space anywhere in the towns centre during peak hours. If at all you are lucky to find some parking space then driving out of the parking area is the worst night mare. The areas that one needs to avoid parking their car especially for new comers in Kitwe are the areas around the post office, Shoprite, Katilungu house and the area on Oxford road near Standard Chartered Bank.
We may soon experience a total traffic jam if plans are not made to decongest the city traffic. It is gratifying to hear that a new road is underway to link Ndeke Village with Nkana East. Once that road is opened up, some traffic could access the Ndola High way through Central Street and Tafuna road in New Ndeke.
The Government has revealed plans to open up Kitwe east through the construction of a bridge in Mufuchani. The works will commence within a months time according to the area member of parliament. This too will help to decongest the city and ease the traffic flow.
The Kitwe city centre roads are not easy to redesign. There seem to be limited space for expanding the main business district road network.
There is also the need to find a new area for Bus and Taxi ranks. Houses extending between the railway station on oxford road and Central police on Matuka Avenue should be demolished and the occupants relocated. The area could be developed to have an underground taxi rank, first and second floor mini bus rank.
The construction standards of building underground car parks as being done by the developers of the Nkana Mall at the demolished Nkana Hotel and the new state of the art building being built at the area opposite the Kitwe library is one good way of creating parking space.
The two developers are currently excavating the sites for underground parking. This will help to decongest surface parking areas. We can only hope that construction of underground parking lots shall be the new standard for all property developers in Kitwe to create more parking spaces.
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