THE Keep Livingstone Clean and Healthy
Committee has expressed concern at the deplorable state of
infrastructure in the tourist capital.
Keep Livingstone Clean and Healthy Committee Chairperson Saxon
Simachembele said there was urgent need to upgrade infrastructure in
Livingstone.
Mr Simachembele told ZANIS in an interview in Livingstone today that
his committee will closely monitor the issuance of trading licences
to the traders by the council in order to ensure that only those that
have improved the outlook of their premises are given the licences.
He also urged Zambian Breweries to work with the Keep Livingstone
Clean and Healthy Committee and ensure that disposable mosi bottles
did not contribute to littering the streets.
Mr Simachembele said there was need for Zambia Breweries to work with
the committee and ensure that the disposable bottles are always
picked and further advised them to donate dust bins.
He said National Breweries must also partner with the committee and
work towards ensuring that packets containing Chibuku shake shake are
also picked.
Mr Simachembele also called for community participation saying that
the response so far from residents was not impressive.
He said it was regrettable to note that only 15 percent of the
residents were participating in the Keep Livingstone Clean Campaign.
Mr Simachembele said that even if the other 35 percent had heard of
it, they had not shown any interest in participating while the
remaining 50 percent had not heard about the campaign at all.
He also called on well wishers to move on board and help the
Livingstone Clean and Healthy Committee as they were operating
without an office and were mostly using their own resources.
livingstone come on emulate Kabwe
There is now a disposable Mosi bottle? The Livingstone song is now tired, it’s boring to talk about the same thing year after year. We should take a leaf from those small Caribbean countries who are serious with tourism. For example, Barbados, which is 430 sq. kms and has a population of just under 300, 000 has a GDP of $3 billion, most of it tourism revenue. This is one-third of Zambia’s GDP! Imagine that! L’stone alone is capable of generating at least $1 billion per year if we were serious
It is disappointing that officials in elected positions have have no drastic plans to revamp our tourism industry once and for all. Failure to take advantage of Zimbabwe’s problems (a core factor in business) is unforgivable. Infrastructure development is key to tourism boom. Small islands as stated above have shown better organisation than our rhetoric prone leaders of Zambia that know no action. Following a promise to build a hotel complex and erasing of Intercontinental Hotel Livingstone,
The above is by CK, sorry I did not put my ID.
ctd from 3,
I was greatly disappointed that Sun Hotels replaced a better infrastructure in prime area of the Falls with “huts” which we are not short of in Zambia. That was not only a breach of contract but a criminal act that should have made government and our Zambian public to act and punish these untrustworthy “Infestors.” Poor planning of our cities and towns is also a factor in poor development of our industries. Livingstone, like many Zambian towns has just one main road, a factor that
ctd from 5,
indicates poor planning. Expansion of the tourism capital is important and this should come with good town planning with many roads crossing one another and expanding of the town center. It is time the council redrew Livingstone, buy off surrounding eyesore infrastructure and sell it out to give way to better buildings. I often imagined if the Falls that we are blessed with were in U.S. or other developed countries, it were going to be a billion dollar industry.
Sun Hotels should be made to rebuild the Hotel they erased or be kicked out of the area they built huts for Zambia. Chalets should be built in game parks and other related resort areas and not in the area that the Sun Hotels did. Please erase them down and hold them accountable! Wake up mother Zambia!
Right on, CK. Whatever happened to the World Bank SEED project, do you know?
The Government’s commitment to Tourism is not there at all. If you look at Magande’s 2007 Budget address, the sector’s revenue in 2006 was a mere $176.7 million. No key policies or interventions were targetted for 2007 in this sector. Wonder what this year’s budget has in store for this sector. Despite their economic woes, Zimbabweans attract way over 1.5 million visitors per year, compared to our 700, 000!
Analyst, I lived in Cayman Islands for 8 months, an island of just 196km2 but whose economy makes about 75% of their GDP from tourism and I think the rest from Banking. They import almost everything and what we have as Zambia, it is absurd to see that we cannot beat these small islands. Our organisation, will power and policies are pathetic. We have many tourist destinations but we do not take advantage of them. Our copper mines can be used as tourist destinations too.
Even Victoria Falls town across looks better with many hotels unlike our so called “Tourist town” of Livingstone. It is time we built better infrastructure in game parks and also reduce our charges in hotels services. Our dollar pricing in Zambian hotels are often two times or more compared to developed countries and you often wonder how we come up with these hotel charges. Clean up and build better infrastructure, GRZ please!
Caymanians, for example, are always building new hotels. They know that that is their lifeline. If we care about boosting tourism, build, build, and build quality infrastructure. There is no other way, no other shortcut. Wake up Zambia!
It is commendable that there is a Keep Livingstone Clean and Healthy Committee. There is no doubt that the committee will have a tough time of trying to change the mindset of the residents. Trouble is the people of Livingstone are used to being surrounded by dirt and they see nothing unusual. To make matters worse most of the so called councillors are not well versed in civic matters. They find themselves in those positions due to questionale popularity. What a dirt Tourist capital!!!!
For the image of Livingstone to change the KLCH Committee and the council should consider the following:
1. Demand that business houses maintain their buildings & areas
2. Health Inspectors must follow the law to the letter.
3. The Civic Centre must shape up to serve as a good example.
4. Designate a port for trucks away from the shopping area
5. Schools, churches, the police, etc must be involved.
6. Encourage establishment of cleaning companies.
7. Build proper public toilets