Zambia is built on a very strong foundation and I won’t let anyone tell me otherwise.
The news that a named Chinese contractor working on the US$65 million stadium in Ndola has decided not to use Chilanga cement for the project is shocking.
This is not an advert for Lafarge but Chilanga Cement is as iconic as Mosi Lager, two local products that are undisputed leaders on the Zambian market.
Chilenga’s quality is taken with so much pride and its price is one of the mostly closely followed indexes after mealie meal.
According to a report in the Zambia Daily Mail on Wednesday, the Chinese contractor allegedly claims Chilanga does not meet the specifications required for the stadium that is currently at foundation stage.
The report says both parties used the same type of analysis equipment with the Chinese firm testing their samples of the brand on site located at the old Monkey Fountain State Forest in Hillcrest.
Strange thing is, isn’t this the same product that is helping meet the short-fall and forming part of the building blocks for the 2010 World Cup structures in South Africa and passed the bill of some of the world’s biggest construction groups contracted to do the job who also have track records in public works globally?
And isn’t the same product a top brand in the great lakes region and is also a familiar sight in mineral-rich Katanga?
Ultimately, where would the Kariba Dam be today without Chilanga?
We hope Government will not be convinced by this Chinese contractor to import 1600 tons of the stuff from China as the firm building the stadium intends to do.
The stadium deal is not a grant but a loan and we still have to pay it back anyway so we must surely have some leverage in the whole show.
The Chinese contractor will find it very hard to sell me the news that there is a fault-line in Chilanga to even knock that very strong Proudly Zambian feeling out of me.
Knowing our Govt they will not support Chilanga Cement. Apparently anything that matters to Zambians is of the’r concern. Watch n c
meant to say does not concern them
Malabishi !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if he can get the cement cheap from elsewhere then he is within his rights. you cannot force anyone to purchase overpriced goods just because they are locally made. As long as he delivers the final product, the stadium, i don’t care whether he gets the cement from RB’s farm or the moon! Stop whining like little pussies every time on non issues and you keep quiet on issues that really matter!
Yes allowing these Chinese go ahead with the announcement and decision will be detrimental to Chilanga. And I think Chilanga ought to sue them if they don’t I’ll be very sad indeed.
Chi RB tell the nation please. Is it true?
here we go again! another freaking side show at the zambia circus.
if you want something done right, do it yourself. if we allowed the chinese to build the stadium, then let them do it their way. for we surely have NO way of building the darned thing ourselves.
sell zambia to taiwan!!
Pa zed awe mwe! Some times it not even the Chines cntractors idea but the guys in in RB’s government who want to have a share by allowing the Chines to bring in cement from out side.
I think Chilanga cement will be fine without a contract to supply the new stadium project.
In a business sense, the Chinese have every right to pick whom they want to do business with given the reason is legit and given corruption is not part of the decision making process.
My question is, what has Chilanga cement done to rebuttal this? Have they proposed a resolution?
In the end we need a world class stadium in the country, the road there may not be pretty.
people lets not hit about the bush, our govt is being runned by the chinese govt, no matta wat we say it will not make a difference to them, am sure our govt already agreed to wat these contractors wants.
And Kanitundila wants Zambians abroad to “return home” with this nonsense am reading, ala kupusa bati!
I don’t trust anything “made in China”. Most of their products are cheap and am not talking good kind of cheap but cheap as in useless products. The only thing I can say is that Zambia as a consumer in this case has every right to demand high quality products from this firm. If somebody was building my house, I would make sure I get the best raw material there is because am paying for it. The Zed government should get an independent party to compare the two kinds of cement and then decide!
With or without Chilanga Cement, the job is long overdue.
Its a difficult a subject to talk about the guys in the construcnction industsry would be the best to talk about this but our contribution would also be good to help them rethink and visualise people concern and the whole thing. The Sun Hotl in Livingstone was the same story when they were building. They said Chilanga cement did not have the actual cement required but atleast they asked first and chilanga cement accepted that they didnt have the one requested for and it would have been a loss to make a speacil order. But then this is a stadium and if in South Africa they are using the same cement to build the stadium why not use it in Zambia. Larfage is a world wide known name. I while there is freedom for one to do business wit any one one wants the gov cud get in to give business 2locals
You haven’t seen or heard anything yet. When you are doing business with a partner who wants every penny, to themself, then you don’t have a partner.
Can this stadium get started and be completed so that ITAWA in Ndola can be on the map again??? stop the rot of yapping… a sheer waste of time.. buying cement from other sources besides Chilanga cement is just a scape-goat for the delays….
Amano ububi ba chocholi imweeee!!!
This is business, the chinese have their own business culture, they do business with their fellow chinese citizens. If they can get cement from china at the same price with chilaanga cement then its obvious that they will get it from china. This is just how the chinese do business. You just have to understand them or deal with it.
Its good that NCC has taken up the matter. Its unbelievable that the Chinese contractors have decided to imoprt 1600 tons of cement (1600 x 1000 = 1,600,000 kg/50 = 32,000 pockets of 50kg cement) say being sold at Ex Factory price of K45,000= K1,440Billion. /4,750 US$303,158
That is alot of money for our economy and would make a difference. May if they said importing steel since we dont have production capacity in this area. It wont take long before we are told that Zambian labour is unsuitable for this project. I dont know what type chemical analysis these Chinese fellows are using. In comparison to Lumwana Mine, the Ndola Stadium project is far small but there was no complaint from Lumwana Mine on the quality of cement from Chilanga Ndola Plant. Let the engineers challenge these fellows
#16 Take note that the stadium is not being constructed at the former Dag site in Itawa but Hillcrest on the Ndola – Kitwe and Mufulira road south of the Round about. Get your facts right. The stadium will be a massive concrete structure reinforced with steel. It will not be completed overnight. At worst with the contractor insisting on importing some type of cement from China it may not be completed on schedule.
#18. You are very right, we must support our local products for the sake of development in Zambia. If the same chilanga cement was being used to build big studiums in South Africa and why can’t the same cement build a small studium in Zambia for that matter? The Chinese are just stupid they want to promote their own businesses in China, please don’t allow that to happen. If you allow it then, you’ll be jackasses.
********on these signs this word was not there. STUPID
Please let these people do their job. First you invite them to do a job and then you tell them what to do. The contractor has got specifications that he has agreed to meet and it does not matter the methods he uses to attain this if it is not in his contract.
This may also be an engineering/technical problem.
What is sad is that a issue like this has become political and can not be resolved using some administrative processes.
If this guy say Chilanga cement is not good enough, let them demonstrate their case with technical data. Also if the price of Chilanga cement is too high, the contractor has the right to source it at a competitive price.
If the contract does not oblige the chinese to use Chilanga cement, then we are damned. Any sensible project manager will endevour to keep costs as low as possible. What is required is Government foresight to ensure that use of localally available resources (labour, cement etc) should be sitipulated in such contracts but bearing in mind delivery of the contract.
“…but Chilanga Cement is as iconic as Mosi Lager, two local products that are undisputed leaders on the Zambian market.” I love this statement with my whole heart! Thanks for your passion, writer. Keep up the fire.
A CONTRACTOR HAS THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE WERE TO GET HIS INPUTS FROM,UNLESS THE CONTRACTS SPECIFIES OTHERWISE.
Now :
Is buying local products part of the contract/deal?
Is employing locals part of the deal?
Govt should wake up and start including such clauses in any big deals…MWAMONA NOMBA IFYACHITIKA!
Wait a minute. I thought we sold chilanga cement many years ago. That company is now owned by foreigners and their profits are externalized. So I do not see any sense in the politicization of this issue. The most important thing us is that a stadium of good quality is constructed and the other contractual matters are met. If I am wrong on the ownership of “chilanga cement” then someone please tell me so.
You are right on economistwanabe. Chilanga cement is now in french hands and part of the privatization deal may have been a long tax holiday. We need a stadium not politics. Chines people are not responsible for our oversight.
Its ridiculous to mix politics with business. As long as the Chinese are not breaching their contract and the quality plan is sound, there is no real problem. For a party to attempt to use nationalistic tactics to secure business is gross to say the least. After all the chilanga cement that was a national assert does not exist today and in its place there is a foreign company. Zambian people want a high quality stadium delivered on time.
It seems the claim is that Lafarge cement is inferior. Lafarge needs to explain – are being screwed with inferior quality material? Have the Chinese been importing cement for all their projects in Zambia including Tazara or was Chilanga cement of superior quality?
Pa Zed problem is working system and delivery.