Chinese Defy Orders To Halt Construction in Lusaka’s Roma Township

A Chinese company employed for construction work in Lusaka’s Roma Township has defied orders to halt developments. The Chinese company constructing a multi-storey building in Lusaka’s Roma Township has defied a directive by the Lusaka City Council (LCC) directive to halt construction and avail necessary documents and has continued building, two weeks after the order was made.

Den Yu Qiang, the Chinese firm is constructing a multi-storey building on stand No. 226/441a at the corner of Zambezi and Kasangula roads much to the chagrin of Roma residents who had written to the council over failure by the developer to follow laid down procedure.

Director of city planning Godwin Chinoya wrote to the company last week ordering it to cease construction, present the relevant documents to the council, and address the challenges raised by the community, failure to which, the council would demolish the structure.

It has been brought to the attention of the Lusaka City Council that you have continued construction on stand No. 226/441a without the necessary consultative meeting with the Roma community as agreed earlier on.

“You are hereby ordered to stop all construction works being carried out on the named piece of land with immediate effect and you are further required to provide all necessary documents pertaining to development of the property and address all the issues raised by the Roma community. Note that failure to comply with this notice shall compel the Lusaka City Council to remove the said structure without any further notice,” Mr. Chinoya said.

This followed a protest by Roma residents to the local authority through a letter dated August 14, 2018 which was addressed to the Town Clerk in which they objected to the development saying the community was never consulted and that no public notice was erected outside 226/441 to inform them on what was being constructed.

The Chinese company had defied the council’s order to halt construction works until it rectified all the shortcomings as workers were found plastering the erected building with other auxiliary works taking place.

All the works are done under strict secrecy as all entry points to the premises are locked with some workers, seemingly conducting surveillance, taking turns to scan the surrounding from an aerial view