Friday, March 29, 2024

Government revises the Sixth National Development Plan

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Alexander Chikwanda
Alexander Chikwanda

GOVERNMENT has revised the Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP) to now focus on inclusive growth, rural development and job creation.

Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda said the Patriotic Front’s (PF) development agenda to revise and reflect on the SNDP policy focus was to enable Government align the national development planning process to the political cycle and allow the ruling party translate its manifesto into national development programmes.

“Government has chosen the theme, People Centred Development, for the revised SNDP. This theme comes from the realisation that economic growth alone does not inherently contribute to improvements in human development and poverty reduction,” Mr Chikwanda said.

Speaking at the National Stakeholders Meeting on the revised National Development Plan 2013-2016, he said Government was proposing measures to direct development towards job creation, reducing rural urban divide by ensuring that development goods and services were equitably distributed.

He said Government would give prominence to investing in capital projects and programmes in agriculture, accelerate infrastructure development and promote development in the energy sector.

Government would also invest significantly in human resource development focusing on education and skills development, provision of quality health services and improve water and sanitation systems.

He said Government would in the plan period address bottlenecks that invariably inhibited smooth implementation of plans.

He said these would include accelerating implementation of the decentralisation policy, putting in place an integrated planning and budgeting framework and undertaking reforms on public finance management and speedily implementing Government programmes, among other things.

“While every sector desires to be given primacy in the plan, Government can only implement fewer programmes at any one time given the limited resource envelope and the timeframe within which the plan can be implemented,” Mr Chikwanda said.

Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba said it was cardinal to have a structured planning system where activities could be undertaken timely and effectively contrary to the current development planning and budgeting processes that were not guided by documented procedures.

He said Government had developed a draft integrated planning and budgeting policy that would facilitate the enactment of the Planning and Budgeting Bill that would give legal backing to planning processes saying this would strengthen the link between budgets and national development plans.

Mr Yamba assured that programmes and projects in the revised SNDP were subjected to project appraisal and evaluation to ascertain their worthiness in terms of economic and social returns.

10 COMMENTS

  1. Best way of cutting all silly RED TAPES allowing a few with all access to electronic medium to insults any progress made by the ruling party while the actual truth majority who are speechless who are never heard suffer and yet need the help they can get….Well done Mr Mininster a handshake well deserved indeed. Always revisit plans academically done to meet current conditions.

  2. Very good news, PF stick to the plan once you have revised it. desist from managing/ruling by decrees they are old fashioned and they do not auger well with the current dispensation. The SNDP is a national asset revise it if need be but once you revise it stick to it and implement what you have planned before we can erase the title of CNP- party.

  3. Thanks PF, Thanks PF. Thats all I have been asking for! If you go by that Plan, I promise I will stop criticizing you. For the first time you have gotten things right. All along you were just doing chintobentobe. I am very happy that you are now coming to your senses. Congratulations to whoever encouraged you to consider the SNDP. For the very first time PF have put a smile on my face, I now can face the future with optimism if and when they stick to the SNDP. Now break the SNDP into wards, constituencies, districts and provinces. Then tie financial commitments to the same. Then start the ignition key and cruise boys and girls. There you have the solution to the development of our Mother Zambia. Again, thanks for this initiative. Mwaaa! Mwaaa! Mwaaa! Kiss Kiss for getting it right finally

  4. The problem was that when PF came to power wanted to rule the old fashion way of dictatorship,, but the loss of kafulafuta has woken you up. Stop putting all development in Lusaka , spread the wealth to rural towns. For instance Kasama has more people now than kabwe ,so potential votes for you . Welcome to reality

  5. First National Development Plan(FNDP) achievement?………… 2nd National Development Plan (SNDP) achievement……..more money in PF cadres, 3rd National Development Plan……….etc. Today PF is revising its 6th National Development Plans (SNDP). BUFI and dreams . PF Sata has never crafted and development strategy. Guy Scott conceded that PFgovt hasn’t got a national developmet strategy in its manifesto. Monkeys in a field have just copied MMD development plans.

  6. @Quasie, the first and second national development plans were girmukatedvin the 1960s after independence and produced infrastructure you hage enjoyed, assuming yiu wrntvyo school and hospitals! !!

  7. revising to more realistic goals was a gud move,but remember its the implementation that ultimately make people smile…thank you.

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