The above post by gaintpaperclips is just at some segment of the road and likely not the end of it.
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The road is therefore continuously passable from Lwambo to Mitwaba because all the hot spots have been eliminated by the workshop which deals with the reopening of the track.
CREC -7 which continues the works of rehabilitation of this road is from now on about twenty Km of the city of Mitwaba, and of this the arrival of the big rains this first phase will be entirely rehabilitated. The second part that goes from Mitwaba to Manono will be done in the course of the year 2019. At 3 km from Kasungeji, the reloading and adjustment of the platform as well as the compaction of the filler materials is done.
Jules KABULA
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Jules Kabula does regular updates for the official infrastructure agency where we get most of our information from. The above was posted some time back jut before the wet season began where the road was only 20km from Mitwaba (as opposed to 42km in the post you were looking at). The officials tend to hold the Chinese to their timelines, so its likely they are near the town. The 2019 phase to Manono should be starting any day now if not already like same time last year at the end of the rains.
In regards to the age of the satellite photos, they come from google earth which tells you the age. They were over 5 years old and thus things could of significantly changed in the mean time. However, if there was a project going east akin to road 617, we would of very likely learned about it by now. As it currently stages, there is no viable path east IMO until AVZ can prove otherwise.
