The Lusaka City Council (LCC) says the construction of the new Soweto market has been delayed due to the shortage of cement and the continuous rains that affected Lusaka and other parts of the country recently.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today, LCC Public Relations Manager Chanda Makanta said the construction of the market which started four years ago would have been complete by now if there were no heavy rains.
Ms. Makanta however said the construction works are on course saying the market is expected to be completed by April.
She said the market once completed will house about four thousand marketers trading in different merchandise.
Ms Makanta said the market will be divided into different categories according to the brands traders deal in.
she said only bonafide traders who were removed from the market to pave way for the construction of the same markets will benefit in the allocation of stands in the new market.
Ms Makanta added that the council has the names of the people who are supposed to benefit from the allocation but expressed regret that some people coming from different parts of the country have come in purporting to be traders also.
The project is being funded by the European Union (EU).
EU is also supporting the rehabilitation works of Chilenge, Chelstone and 11 other markets across the country.
Any Zambian trader with a green NRC from any province has the right to go search for trading opportunity at any market of there choice nationwide and the Lusaka city market is no exception.
i cant believe you people can be so selfish and shameless at the same time. it always seems proper to you when foreigners are running our markets and the rightful citizens cleaning toilets ka? it your duty to make bigger markets to accomodate all Zambians. Lusaka city belongs to them.
#1 Traders were displaced when construction commenced. It is only fair that these people be considered first.
Soweto is not for Lusaka residents but for Zambians. four thousand traders is too much let us consider those coming from rural areas and other cities. If its Indians you give them places. whats wrong with the zambian authorities. I run a kantemba and i dont wish to go to Soweto because i know its a waste of time. But please help my fellow Zambians living in the outskirts life is hard there as well.
It is the LCC’s duty to build bigger markets to accomodate all traders because they are the ones who don’t want street traders.
The government is busy inviting Indians and chinese for tax-free zones while the local traders have no place to trade in their homeland. do you think all Zambians are interested at a Chinese mine?
not everyone is interested to work at a Chinese mine so if you have a problem with that, some of us, being the kind of people that we are, can not deal with watching politicians block the poor from helping themselves and we might as well start disrupting the Chinese mines.
# 4&5 Zulu 83, You are off side. You seem to have hatred for the Chines. They is nothing in the Topic mentioning China or mines but you mention you will disrupt Chines mines. At whose interests will you do that. Grow up. Coherence does not require any education.
TUSE #6
For your own informantion, I don’t hate the chinese but I do have a problem with how the government serves the foreigners at the expense of locals. it seems that what the government has planned for the people are those mining jobs and thats what drives me really mad. I wish I could just bomb those chinese mines so the governmet could turn it’s attention to the empowerment of local entrepreneurs.
Mr Zulu you do not need to be invited to set up a mine. You are Zambian and you are free to do so. The truth is that you have no capital. A mine costs billions to establish. Where will you get it ? Please build a decent house for your self first. Are you waiting for government to build you one. It is sad that many Zambians do not understand that investment is for economic development. Show me a country which has developed without investment.
When are you people going to build beautiful shopping malls in your city. You have to many dirty markets for my liking. Be like your friends in the southern neighbourhood with sparkling malls and clean cities. Why do you aim so lowly?
There has been many complaints about shortage of cement in Zambia not only with respect to the market under construction, but many other construction projects national wide. Surely, the country cannot be held at ransom for this long. If the Govt. was really serious, it could have facilitated for the importation of the commodity to meet the deficit. I have also been affected through the delayed completion of the house since resorting to black market cement, which is expensive. For once this govt. should be serious.
Bwana Cheese.
One doesn’t need a lot of money to make a lot of money, I’m not asking the government to give me billions to set up a mine, at age 24 and employing 4 people in a foreign land, you shouldn’t a expect a guy of my calibre to beg for a house from your government…
Bwana Cheese
check your dictionary and you’ll see that The word ‘investment’ does not mean foreigner, conduct a research and you’ll see that all countries with massive foreign investment have introduced laws to protect their citizens. look at South Africa instance, Just over 14yrs of democracy we can already see blacks owning gold mines and many huge firms.
Zambia after 40+ years of democracy, it still takes 4 years to build a market.
All of you here there’s nothing you’re saying. Just let the government give the good land to the Chinese and continue suffering. Ba Cheese naba Zulu muleisebanya kunya wanya.
I think all of you guys should go to OPRAH to sort out your problems. Some of you did not even vote in the previous election so you have no right to say anything about the current laws being passed by the current govt. If you want to impose laws, if you think you can do better, then at 2011, form a party, campaign and win the elections then you can impose your own laws. The only people who have the right to complain about the chinese are the people that voted. If you didn’t vote, dont say anything because you have not earned that right. Just read the news and go to bed. SIMPLE
Ba Crazy_Zambian if you like sleeping so much don’t come here giving us advice to sleep. You think Oprah will let you seat on her studio sofa? She’ll just smell the kapenta in your mouth when you make a phone call and ask her secretary to politely cut the phone.