Zambia plans major road programme

The Zambian Government is launching its Link Zambia-8000 project, which is intended to improve transport within the country. Costing US$5.37 billion this is a five-year project intended to improve connections between the country's 10 provinces. Outlying areas will be provided with better transport links to major conurbations under the scheme, which will also help the country’s extraction industry. Of the total $5.37 billion, $1.57 billion will be for the first phase, $2.24 billion for the second phase and $1.79 billion for the final phase of the programme. In all, the plans call for the construction of 2,290km of roads for the first phase, followed by 3,049km for the second phase and 2,862km in the final phase.