By Emily Setona
QwaQwa – What was meant to be a new road for Lusaka has become a health hazard. One year after construction started in 2024, the project remains unfinished — leaving families choking on dust in winter and bailing out flood water in summer.
For 56-year old widow Maria Mmoneng, the incomplete road has ruined her health and her home.
“The cold has entered my bones and left me sick with arthritis
“The dust we inhale has caused lung problems. My children and grandchildren always suffer from colds and flu. Winter is the worst time,” Mmoneng said.
She says rainwater now pours into her yard because of poor drainage, destroying her walls.
“Last Christmas we had visitors and our house was full of dust. When it rains, the walls are destroyed because of the water entering our yard,” she said.
Another resident Eunice Mosia, 25, says the road in front of their home was gravelled and cemented last year but never completed.
“When it rains, the water enters our home and the walls are starting to crumble*” Mosia said.
An asthmatic Matshepo Tladi, 55, who uses a walking stick, says the problem predates the new project.
“Since 1994, our houses here on the sloping side of the road have had water coming into our houses. We are suffering,” Tladi said.
With no help from authorities, residents have resorted to digging trenches themselves.
“We dig our own trenches to redirect the water. Other houses are falling. It’s unbearable. As you can see, I’m doing my laundry. It smells like dust when it has dried. This is our lives,” Tladi said.
*No answers from authorities*
Residents say no one has explained why workers stopped or when the project will resume. The half-paved road ends just a few houses down, leaving the rest a dust bowl.
For Lusaka families, the unfinished road is no longer just an infrastructure failure. It is dust in their lungs, water in their homes, and cracks in their walls.
Residents are calling on the municipality to urgently complete the road and fix the drainage before more homes are damaged.
