Public Roads Act, 2002

This section gives the Act its short title and lets the Minister set the commencement date by statutory instrument.

This section defines key terms used in the Act, including road-related terms, the Agency, road authority, parking, and traffic sign.

The Road Development Agency Establishment is created as a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, can sue and be sued in its own name, and has corporate powers subject to the Act.

The Agency must plan and coordinate the road network and perform listed road-management functions. The Minister may give directions, and the Agency must comply. The Agency may delegate functions in writing subject to conditions.

The Agency has power to manage roads and traffic, including classifying roads, controlling traffic, placing signs, carrying out investigations, and preventing damage to roads.

This section sets out who makes up the Agency, who appoints the Chairperson, how the Vice-Chairperson is chosen, and how the Agency reports to the Committee of Ministers.

The Agency must appoint a Director with the Minister’s approval, set the Director’s service terms, and the Director must attend Agency meetings. The Director may attend and speak at committee meetings but has no vote, and serves as Secretary to the Agency.

This section classifies Zambia’s public roads and lets the Minister designate roads as public roads and set use restrictions, on the Agency’s recommendation.

This section defines inter-territorial and territorial main roads and assigns the Director responsibility for their construction, care, and maintenance.

District roads are designated by the Minister on the Agency’s recommendation; the Minister may appoint a road authority, which must handle construction, care, and maintenance, and those expenses are paid from the Fund.

The Minister may designate branch roads and appoint a road authority; the appointed road authority must maintain the branch roads under the Agency’s direction, and the costs are paid from the Fund.

Urban roads are public roads in a local UrbanRoads authority area, and the local authority generally handles their construction, care, and maintenance under the Agency’s direction.

Rural roads are public roads in a local authority area that may be designated by the Minister, and the district council normally handles their construction, care, and maintenance under the Agency’s direction.

Estate roads are public roads in a local authority area for internal access in developing areas for residential plots or farms. The Minister must designate them on the Agency’s recommendation and may make rules for their provision, construction, care, and maintenance, except where a development scheme is approved under the Town and Country Planning Act.

The Minister may, on the Agency’s recommendation, make a statutory order exempting certain road types in designated areas from specified sections of the Act.

Public roads are treated as dedicated to public use when designated, and the road authority concerned may enter and work on them subject to the Act and the Agency’s direction.

For notices about reserves, serving the notice on the Council Secretary for the District counts as satisfying the service requirement.

The Minister may appoint a person or institution as a road authority for a public road, on the Agency’s recommendation.

The Agency may declare road widths by Gazette notice, and the Minister may prescribe the road centre-line by statutory notice on the Agency’s recommendation.

The Minister may make rules about road access points, and the road authority may request service roads and prohibit buildings with direct frontage on main or district roads.

Occupiers of land next to a road may apply through a road authority to the Agency to have the road designated as a branch road.

The road authority can require applicants to pay inspection costs, and several officials must prepare reports or recommendations before the road can be designated a branch road.

Land occupiers next to a branch road may apply in writing for it to be designated a district road, and applicants must publish notice of the application in a newspaper in the district.

The road authority may require a deposit to cover inspection costs, and the relevant officials must submit reports and recommendations before the Minister can designate the road as a district road.

The Agency may, with the Minister’s approval and public notice, declare certain roads to stop being designated, be reclassified, or be diverted.

Before a Gazette notice under section 27 is published about closing, reclassifying, or diverting a road, the Agency or road authority must give notice, make it public, and handle objections.

A road authority may build drainage works to divert storm water, and must compensate affected land owners or occupiers for resulting loss or damage.

Owners or occupiers of land next to a public road must not let storm water from their drains or contour ridges flow onto the road or into a road drain unless the road authority allows it.

The Agency may issue Gazette notices restricting how traffic uses public roads, and must give advance public notice before doing so unless the Director dispenses with that preliminary notice in a particular case.

A road authority may close or restrict roads for repair or construction and direct traffic onto alternative roads, but it must give notice and post warning signs unless immediate action is needed for public danger or serious road damage.

Road and railway authorities may place and direct traffic signs, but signs must meet prescribed standards unless authorised otherwise. People must obey traffic signs, and must not damage, remove, obscure, or attach things to them without permission.

Police and, during road maintenance or reconstruction, road authorities may place temporary traffic signs for traffic control in emergencies or works.

A person must not display an advertisement visible from any road unless the road authority gives written permission.

The road authority may order removal or alteration of certain roadside-visible advertisements, and failure to comply can lead to an offence and penalties.

Section 37 lists advertisement displays that are exempt from sections 35 and 36, and lets the Agency require an ad to be altered or removed if it may endanger the travelling public.

The Inspector-General of Police may make traffic regulations for an experimental scheme in a specified area, but only with the Agency’s consent and after the required notice.

Road authorities must construct, care for, and maintain roads in their jurisdiction, subject to the Agency’s directions.

The section protects road authority staff and related persons from liability for bona fide acts, omissions, and contracts done for the authority’s duties, but keeps negligence-based suits and a limited physical-damage liability exception.

A road authority may enter land in its jurisdiction for road investigations or surveying, but it must give prior notice and compensation is payable for damage or destruction to improvements.

Road authorities may build and maintain temporary deviations for roads, subject to notice and land-use limits; they must restore the land when the deviation is no longer needed.

The Agency may warn landowners or users to stop acts that could interfere with a proposed road, and may reserve land by Gazette notice if they do not comply.

The Agency may reserve a 60-metre road strip after a proposed road is demarcated, must notify affected landowners, and several follow-up steps apply for notices, registration, and demarcation.

The Agency may withdraw or modify a reservation made under sections 43 or 44 at any time, by Gazette notice and by notifying the Registrar of Lands and Deeds.

If someone does an unauthorised act on reserved land, the Director may order restoration of the land and the person must pay the cost.

A person affected by the Agency’s exercise of powers under sections 44 or 45 who wants compensation must file a written statement within 30 days of notice publication.

Road authorities may enter land and take materials for road works, but must consult owners, avoid certain areas and pay compensation in specified cases.

Road authority workers may use affected land for road works, but must give notice and consult the landowner or occupier.

A contractor may exercise certain road authority rights and obligations when working under the road authority’s supervision or direction on road construction or repair, and the road authority must pay compensation for damage done by the contractor.

A road authority may build, light, maintain, alter, and remove traffic-safety works and pedestrian crossings.

A road authority must provide footpaths, margins, or tracks beside roads under its control when it considers this necessary or desirable for safety or accommodation.

A road authority may build and run ferries, pontoons, and bridges for crossings over rivers, streams, railway lines, and inland waterways.

The Minister may make rules, on the Agency’s recommendation, about cattle grid construction and cost recovery for road authorities.

People must not obstruct, damage, flood, or place heavy items on roads or road reserves, unless an emergency or a listed exception applies; the road authority can authorize or remove obstacles.

An undertaker must not carry out undertakers' works on a road specified by the Agency unless the works comply with regulations made under this section.

An undertaker doing road works at a railway level crossing must follow reasonable requirements set by the railway authority, including on work arrangements and hours.

If apparatus used for nearby building or other work is left in the road after the work ends, the road authority may require the undertaker to remove it, and may remove it itself after 8 days if the undertaker does not comply.

Authorised undertakings may exercise their electricity-act powers for work in or over roads, street reserves, and street margins, but must do so in line with the preceding sections of the Act.

Undertakers generally cannot break up or open a road for 12 months after certain road works or resurfacing, unless an exception applies.

The Minister may make regulations setting maximum laden and axle weights for vehicles used on roads, on the Agency’s recommendation.

Driving a vehicle on a public road above the prescribed weight limits is an offence and can lead to a fine, imprisonment, or both.

Certain officers may impound vehicles on a public road if the vehicle’s axle load exceeds the maximum permitted axle load weight.

Driving away an impounded vehicle without lawful authority is an offence, punishable on conviction by a fine, prison term, or both. Heavy vehicles must stop at designated weigh stations, and the Minister may designate weigh stations on the Agency’s recommendation.

Heavy vehicles on public roads must carry a weight certificate from an authorised weigh station.

A local authority may charge parking fees, set up special parking places, and make bye-laws for their control.

References to the Director of Roads must be read as references to the Director appointed under section 7 of the Act.

If a bridge or ferry is damaged by a vehicle in the described ways, the vehicle’s owner and driver are jointly and severally liable to the Agency for the damage.

The Agency, a road authority, or any other road or ferry maintainer is liable for injury, damage, or loss caused when a road or ferry fails to sustain a vehicle.

Local authorities and other bodies of persons may not exercise powers over road or ferry construction, maintenance, or care unless the Agency has delegated that power under this Act.

The Agency, or someone it authorizes, may post notice to restrict or prohibit vehicle movement on a road or ferry when necessary to prevent serious damage or danger to the public.

A person needs written consent from the Agency before building a bridge or other crossing over open water or a sewer beside a road.

No one may excavate in a road without the Agency’s written consent. If consent is given, the person must fence the excavation, keep it lit at night, and restore the road promptly after the work. Breaching the prohibition is an offence punishable by a fine, prison, or both.

A person who commits an offence under the Act without a special penalty may be fined, and repeat offences may also lead to imprisonment. The Minister may make regulations by statutory instrument for carrying the Act into effect.

The Agency controls its seal, the Secretary keeps it, and certain Agency documents can be signed or executed without a seal by authorized persons.

Agency members serve three-year terms, may be reappointed once, and some may resign with one month’s written notice. The office can also become vacant for listed reasons, and a member may stay on for up to four months after term expiry until a successor is appointed.

If a member’s office becomes vacant before the term ends, the Minister may appoint a replacement, and the replacement serves only the remaining term.

The Agency may regulate its own procedure, and the section sets meeting, quorum, chairing, voting, and special-meeting rules.

The Agency may create committees, delegate functions to them, appoint their members, and committees may regulate their own procedure subject to the Agency’s directions.

Agency members and committee members are to be paid allowances set by the Agency with the Minister’s approval.

A member or person at an Agency meeting must declare a relevant private interest and generally must not join in discussion or voting on that matter unless the Agency or committee directs otherwise.

A person must not disclose protected information unless the Agency gives written consent or the disclosure is in the course of duties.

The Agency may receive and use funds, charge fees, borrow with Ministerial approval, and invest unused funds with Ministerial approval.

The Agency’s financial year is a 12-month period ending on 31 December each year.

The Agency must keep proper accounts and records, have its accounts audited yearly by independent auditors approved by the Minister, pay the auditors’ fees, and submit an annual report to the Minister; the Minister must then table that report in the National Assembly within seven days after its next sitting.

When the Act deems certain government property, rights, liabilities, and obligations transferred to the Agency, the Agency must apply in writing for registration, and the registration authority must record the transfer; related fees, stamp duty, and other duties are not payable.

From the appointed date, the Agency and other persons have the same rights, powers, and remedies to deal with rights, liabilities, or obligations vested in the Agency under the Act.

The Agency may appoint needed public officers as its officers with the Minister’s approval, and affected staff must not receive worse service terms than before.

This text lists Kapiri Mposhi and Lubumbashi (Congo D.R.).

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