THE Road Development Agency (RDA) needs about KR 52 million to kick start the construction of access roads at the US$94 million Lusaka Stadium.

RDA senior manager for construction and maintenance, Charles Mushota said in an interview in Lusaka, after the Republican Vice-President Guy Scott toured the stadium, that so far only KR 12 million has been allocated in the yellow book for the project.

Mushota said the RDA has already started working on the access road designs, adding that an interchange would be made at the junction of the Lusaka-Kabwe road to have a smooth flow of traffic.

He said other multiple access roads would be established in a bid to avoid congestion.

"We had initially requested for KR 52 million but we have only been given KR 12 million, we have already commenced with designs on how these access roads would look like. There are plans to put up an interchange at the junction of the Great North road to reduce traffic," he said.

Mushota said design engineers were already working at costs which would be presented to the Ministry of Finance and National Planning for funds to be released so that the programme gets underway immediately.

He said the RDA will commence works using the KR 12 million that has been allocated, adding that priority would be to have smooth flow of traffic on the congested Great North Road.

During his tour of the stadium, Scott said there was need for all supporting facilities to be completed in time for the handover of the stadium so that the facility can start working immediately.

Chinese Ambassador Zhou Yu Xzao who was in the vice president's entourage said the reason for being part of the tour was to push the Zambian Government to finish what it had been tasked to avoid the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium episode where the opening of the stadium was delayed.

Yu Xzao said it was important for the stadium to be ready for use once completed, adding that there was need to select a future management team that should work with the Chinese team with the aim of being ready to take over.