Friday, March 29, 2024

Government to set up ethanol plant in Eastern province

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Rupiah Banda talking jounalists

President Rupiah Banda has said that the government intends to put up an ethanol plant in eastern province to reduce the cost of imported oil in the country.

And President Banda says his government will next year extend the Chipata /Mchinji railway to Katete district.

Mr. Banda said his government will increase sugarcane production which will facilitate the production of ethanol oil in the country.

The President observed that Zambia is spending a lot of money on imported oil saying the construction of ethanol plants will enable the country to produce oil.

He stated that it is for this reason that he went to Brazil to learn how ethanol can be used for oil production, among other issues.

He stated that this will also lead to an increase in the levels of employment among people who will work on both sugar and ethanol plants.

And President Banda says his government will next year extend the Chipata /Mchinji railway to Katete district.

He said that government will allocate local resources to extend the railway line to the district before it seeks the international donor community for financial support to further extend the railway line to Lusaka via Petauke.

President Banda stated that government has made scores in the development of the country in various sectors of the economy.

He cited agriculture which has shown a significant output increase saying the country has produced a bumper harvest which has improved the livelihood of farmers.

He stated that Eastern Province produced maize worth K280 Billion which was sold to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).

“A total of K233 has already been paid to farmers in the province on maize alone,’ he said.

President Banda also noted that there has been an increase in tobacco, groundnuts and cotton production in the province.

He also disclosed that government will next year rehabilitate the Great East road from Luwangwa to Malawi to international standard.

He expressed his commitment to complete the reconstruction of the Chipata/Mfuwe, Chipata/Lundazi, Lundazi/Chama, Chama/Muyomba and Muyombe/Isoka roads to ease transportation of agriculture produce to markets.

The Head of State said government has attained macroeconomic stability saying inflation has been brought to single digit levels with an economic growth at 6 percent.

He observed that the exchange rate has stabilized adding that government has re-organized the budget cycle to allow for better economic management.

President Banda stated that the MMD government has built schools at both primary and Secondary levels.

“There are three new boarding high schools Nyimba, Chama and Chipata and seven Basic schools in Chipata, Petauke, Lundazi and Chama.

ZANIS

29 COMMENTS

  1. Good move Mr. President. This is what the Zambian people want to hear. Zambian people want to hear development and not character assassination.

  2. CHANGE IS COMING. EASTERN PROVINCE IS DEVELOPING AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHER TOWNS. LETS SHUN THIS TRIBAL THINKING. WE ONLY HAVE ONE ZAMBIA MR RB, DONT DESTROY THIS COUNTRY….. YOU HAVE TO GO SIR

  3. Our research students from different provinces had positively submitted their Phd papers on the need to build a railway line from Lusaka to Chipata. This is a good move which deserves the support of all Zambians. We need railway lines in every province. there are few petrol stations in the province and the ethanol project is welcome. Build one in Mazabuka too.

  4. All things being equal….the plant should have been in Mazabuka, some people are real tribalist….what a shame….so now sugar canes will have to be transported from Mazabuka to Eastern province just because on person wants this province to develop at the expense of the rest of the country…..One thing i know is that our so called politicians lack what i call CONNECTED THINKING and that is why we cannot move forward as a nation.Cry for my beloved country (Zambia)…………..

  5. BEWARE THOSE WHO SEE JOBS IN ETHANOL.

    ETHANOL IS ACTUALLY 96% PURE ALCOHOL.
    IT IS USED AS A SUBSTITUTE IN MIXED VODKA DRINKS AROUND THE WORLD BY SIMPLY BEING A PURE ALCOHOL IT CAN BE CLASSED AS A VODKA.
    SO WHEN THE SMARTER DRINKERS LEARN HOW TO MAKE POWERFUL DRINKS FROM PLANTS GROWN IN THE BACKYARD THERE WILL COME A TIME WHEN SHAKE SHAKE AND SATCHELS WILL BE LIKE SOFT DRINKS.

    ALSO THAT ETHANOL CAN BE USED AS 90% SUBSTITUTE FOR CAR FUELS SO JUST LIKE WHERE RUPIAH WENT TO LEARN HE MISSED THE IMPORTANT PART OF MORE USE OF ETHANOL WILL NOT MAKE OIL CHEAPER IT WILL MAKE IT LESS NEEDED.
    TRUCKS/CARS AND BUSES CAN ALL RUN ON 90% ETHANOL.

    ANYWAY LET RUPIAH CHASE THE OIL DREAM WHERE HE CAN REMOVE FUNDS LIKE LEVY DID.

  6. IF YOU THINK ZAMBIA HAS A DRINKING PROBLEM NOW THEN WAIT FOR 96% ALCOHOL BEING SOLD FOR 4000KWACHA PER LITRE.

    ENOUGH SHOTS FOR 33 DRINKS(EQUAL TO SCOTCH OR RUM AND COLA CANS)

  7. Rb is a joke. Ethanol from sugar is there sugar plantation in eastern province? This is lies at very best.
    rail from chipata to katete and from katete to lsk what a joke!! What is in katete to have a rail for? It will be a cost project running at a loss. Katete has cotton but the scale does not need a rail. Why then don’t you costruct a rail from Angola via solwezi to chingola. The copper transport in this region is damaging the roads so a rail will be benefitial. Why tell lies mr president? Be realistic atleast in your lies.

  8. Can someone tell me where ethanol production has succesfully taken off to surpass the need for oil? I understand economically it is still cheaper to buy oil than going the ethanol way. I maybe ignorant – please enlighten me with RB’s current cost savings

  9. As we criticise the railway line plans, it is also necessary to remember that this is in the Multi-Nacala Corridor Project concept. Google for your own info.

  10. good development indeed, because so far it seems southern province and northern were the only true channels to the rest of african trade
    opening up eastern province and raising its standard will lead to good development, better trade and access to the ocean…i wish the lozis can be more open with such ideas than sticking to backward thinking

  11. Declaration of intent is not cause for enough for celebration.If he was serious he would have started with Mazabuka where sugar production is already in high gear than start begging for land from chiefs,find investor,feasibility study,clear land,grow cane just how long will that take? politics as usual

  12. # 10 charlie
    I like and support your reasoning
    RB is not promoting one zambia one nation, he just want to get praise from his tribalmen and not the country at large as God want him to be. Its is very pathetic to think of roads transporting copper from north western to copperbelt provinces. Why cant they reconsider looking at Kavindele`s dream????

  13. Puting an ethanol plant in mazabuka will raise the price of sugar locally. Therefore it is a good idea to start another sugar plantation in eastern province which will specifically supply sugar cane to the ethanol plant that will be setup in the named province.

  14. I also doubt the viability of this project, POLITICS as usual, and did they need to go to brazil just to get this scant info? RB and his ministers would not be directltly involved in production if this alleged project was implemented, so going to Brazil was a miscalculated move. Also plants like this are usually set up near raw material source to reduce on transportation costs, but promising to set up ethanol plant in chipata is really political. They could have consulted us, the specialist. Also, ethanol is not used to make oil as reported in this poorly written article, but is usually misxed with ‘oil’, so less oil is used…

    Chi #8: fuel ethanol and and the ethanol you consume in beer are two different things, their manufacturing proceses are different, fuel ethanol is toxic.

  15. Dada setting up a ethanol plant in mazabuka can not make the cost of sugar rise because ethanol is not made from sugar but molasses a by product of sugar. In fact zambia sugar is already making ethanol, they are using it to generate there own electricity.
    They are no longer using Zesco power.

  16. The idea of making ethanol for fuel (not oil) is good but is not feasible in zambia.

    You need vehicles with engines which are ready to us fuel blended with ethanol. Most of these vehicles are later models, here in zambia the majority can only afford second hand vehicles which are centuries old and can only run of leaded or unleaded fuel.

    At the moment we can only make ethanol for export not local consumption.

  17. Peace Maker please refer to the ERB report of May 2010 which clearly stated that the Zambia Sugar Company was not producing any bio ethanol although it had plans to do so in future. The 40 MW of electricity being produced for its own use is being generated through the use of bagasse, the fibrous residue of sugar cane which is used to heat water to produce steam to run steam engines which are coupled to generators to produce electricity.

  18. Senior engineer why should I refer to a document by ERB? I work for zambia sugar and I have first hand information.

    Please don’t take whatever you read as gospel truth. Come to zambia sugar and see for yourself. Our boilers are heated by burning ethanol.

  19. Zambia WILL be one of the top ten fastest growing economies in the WORLD in the next five years according to the Economist and the BBC. We owe this incredible success to the late Mr. Mwanawasa and Mr. Rupiah Banda. If Mr Sata gets in we shall be in the bottom ten. No doubt about that.

  20. @DADA: Here’s one person who puts emotions aside and uses logical reasoning. There’s nothing tribal about this decision. The Eastern Province is the country’s potential food basket. Connecting Chipata to Lusaka, and hence the rest of the country, makes perfect economic sense.

    I find it sad that many commentators here who cry ‘tribal’ at the first opportunity are in fact highly educated. So sad.

  21. Why invest in an ethanol plant in order to burn the product to work steam turbines to supply a mill’s electricity requirement, when there is already a copious by-product of the cane crushing process, bagass, on hand ‘for free’, to fuel those turbines.
    . . . or,
    Maybe ‘Peacemaker’s’ ethanol plant is a pilot plant, an R&D Project at ZamSug, not ready yet to sell or use the ethanol for its primary purposes.
    . . . or,
    Maybe they’re able to purchase as much ‘burning’ ethanol as they need very cheaply on a supposedly well supplied local market.
    . . . take your pick as to the authenticity of the man.

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