DEPUTY Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Miles Sampa says Government is making headway in efforts to acquire another Eurobond to help build Zesco’s power generation capacity.
Speaking when he officiated at the opening of the refurbished Total Service Station in Matero and the launch of the partnership with Emerging Cooking Solutions in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Sampa said Zesco needs a huge investment to address the current electricity deficit, especially that the country is still developing.
“As you are aware, we are currently facing power cuts, it is because Zesco needs to invest a lot of millions of dollars so it can generate more power, and to generate power, Zesco has to bring water from Kafue River and all the rivers, process it and then give us electricity.
“But that requires a lot of money. This is why the Minister of Finance [Alexander Chikwanda] has gone and is making headway to acquire another Eurobond so that we can develop Zesco and hence have reliable power in the country,” he said.
Mr Sampa, however, said once Zesco is developed, there is no guarantee that there will be enough power in future because the country is still growing and the investment will be effective in the long-term.
Zambia is currently experiencing erratic electricity supply due to poor rainfall during the 2014/2015 rainy season, which has resulted in low river inflows into the Zesco reservoirs.
And Mr Sampa says Government is happy that Total Zambia has continued to give Zambians access to better energy.
Mr Sampa says Government appreciates the services Total has been providing to the citizens in the 65 years of existence in Zambia.
“Total has always placed a strong emphasis on supporting the communities in which they operate and I am delighted to be a part of this new partnership with Emerging Cooking Solutions,” Mr Sampa said.
Emerging Cooking Solutions is aimed at providing alternative sustainable cooking solutions to charcoal.
Mr. Sampa,
only thing that I am aware it is you and your party inability to formulate any policy which does not involve borrowings, corruption and incompetence.
How low have you fallen to benefit from thirty pieces of silver.
They are currently struggling to find investors with appetite for additional Zambia risk. Even when they do the yield rates will be relatively high owing to the poor economic forecast reflected by a ratings down-grade.
FOUR YEARS later and only now PF has woken up!
What happened to the EUROBOND you got to increase electricity at ZESCO? Can you first;
1) Account for the last EURO Bond portion that went to increase generation capacity at Zesco.
2) Explain HOW after you pumped the euro bond loan into Zesco, capacity seems to have then REDUCED instead of increasing (pls dont talk about water levels, give real proper reasons)
what needs to happen is, encourage or even order Zesco to use part of that money in engaging UNZA and CBU into research of alternatives sources of energy such as solar and wind to help counter balance this void that is as a result of nature. cause Eurobond or not, the water levels will not change unless it rains.
I support your proposal!
As if it is something to be proud about.
While it should be supported that part of the Euro bond would be put to good use if invested in ZESCO for it has potential to export power and repay its part of that loan, the management of fire fighting is not the way to go. ZESCO wasn’t a beneficiary of this deficit budget which deficit has caused the need for borrowing.
Miles Sampa, when campaigning for PF presidency, said he had voted against borrowing and had risked his job for his stance. What has changed?
He has got 2 mounths – one for eating and another for yapping nonsense
Zambians are docile foolss, they don’t even know exactly how the last eurobond was utilized. Didn’t the government say the same about the last bond? That part of it was going to be used to revamp Zesco? The money has been used up and Zesco is performing worse than it was while these docile people are being fed lies about low rain fall. Zambia ha recorded lower rains in the past but it did not experience this level of load shedding. Miles Sampa Vosekk
Pf you have already borrowed a lot of money to rehabilitate Zesco.? . What happened, was the wrong work done or was the borrowed money looted? .
It is a shame to even boost of going out borrowing to meet your demands when you have plenty.
Where on earth can somebody’s home be managed on credits and borrowing?
Is a home which depends on Kaloba respected in communities?
You have accused of water levels but will this borrowing increase water levels in lake Kariba?
Where there is chipatepate type of governance the results are seen today.
Can somebody now judge which government was better between MMD and PF?
Is borrowing huge sums of money going to increase the water level at Kafue gorge? Not too long ago you pumped money into Zesco to improve the capacity! What happened to the money? The capacity didn’t improve, if anything the capacity has desperately gone down! Don’t give us the story of water levels, save that story for your illiterate PF cadres! You should by now realize how worthless you are! This man Sampa is not very normal! Surely he can even proudly announce that very soon we shall receive borrowed money! You ought to be ashamed you moron! You can’t live on a borrowed life! Shame on PF Kapoyas masquerading as leaders!
Mr Sampa I think you should do another certificate in Accountability and Transparency as you seem to spending money on the courses
Can we have the audit of the last Eurobond?
Proverbs 22:7 New International Version (NIV)
7 The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is slave to the lender.
The current Greek crisis can be attributed to a lack of self-control: the Greek government borrowed more money than it could comfortably pay back. Borrowing money, unfortunately, is like using drugs: it feels good at first and feels bad later on. This makes it easy for borrowers to focus their attention on the pleasant present and put off thoughts about a future in which the only choices open to them are painful. This about sums up what Mr Sampa is on about. Docile Zambians will end up like Greece come 2024. Watch this space. Plagiarised this from someone who knows what he is talking about.
Unfortunately, This Eurobond is not going to succeed. Thank God, the down grade just came in the nick of time. This debt strategy, which PF is so pigheaded about and looks like it is the only tool they have in their tool box, is now unwinding. Wrong doing does not go on forever, just like, you cannot go on borrowing, at some stage, something has to give.
Is that the ‘refurbished’ service station in the rear? Anyway, I would have thought that with a robust Parliament (PF won’t listen to the opposition on their own), this government would have been taken to task to explain with clear facts how the other Euro-bonds were used.
There is heavy borrowing, less than transparent award of contracts for all sorts of shoddy work and no control over what foreign investors can or cannot do. of course that’s partly because of the kick backs that the politicians and other unscrupulous Zambians (to the detriment of the many) are getting from ‘deals’. If any right thinking person is not concerned by now, about the downward spiral of Zambia’s politics and economy or cannot see it, or choose not to, we doomed …doomed I tell you.