THE business community in Mufulira has bemoaned the negative effect the dilapidated Mufilira-Sabina and Mufulira-Ndola roads are having on the cost of doing business.

Mufulira Chamber of Commerce (MCC) secretary, Rabson Lungu said the poor road network leading in and out of Mufulira had posed serious challenges on the business community.

In an interview in Mufulira yesterday, Mr Lungu complained that the dilapidated Mufulira-Sabina and the Mufulira-Ndola roads had pushed the cost of doing business in Mufulira higher.

He said most trades in Mufulira were to a greater extent inter-dependent on neighbouring towns such as Kitwe and Ndola, which were the source of their products.

Mr Lungu said with the current state of the two roads, transportation of goods in and out town had become not only dangerous but also risky for most transporters.

"Our major challenge as business community right now is the poor road network," Mr Lungu said.

Because of the poor state of the two roads most people were spending huge sums of money repairing their vehicles, which were constantly breaking down as a result of the potholes on the roads.

Mr Lungu said apart from breaking down of vehicles the journey to and out of Mufulira was now taking unnecessary long as people had to slow down often to negotiate potholes, which had now developed into depressions.

He appealed to the Road Development Agency (RDA) to consider rehabilitating the two roads to serve the business community from incurring unnecessary cost resulting from effects of the poor state of these roads.