Friday, March 29, 2024

Zambia to present projects proposals to China

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Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Kalaba with the Chinese Delegation
Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Kalaba with the Chinese Delegation

ZAMBIA will soon send a delegation to Beijing to present projects for possible funding under the US$60 billion which China committed to Africa’s development, Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Kalaba has said.

China pledged the support at the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg, South Africa last December.

Mr Kalaba and his delegation have held bilateral talks with the Chinese and British envoys ahead of the 26th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU).

In his opening remarks in a meeting with Zhang Ming, China’s permanent representative to the AU, Mr Kalaba said Zambia wants to realise the full benefits of the US$60 billion windfall, and will in March send a team to Beijing with a list of specific projects that the country wants to undertake.

“Very soon we will be sending a team to Beijing to present our case. Zambia has come up with a broad range of projects. We want to improve our roads and railways. We are also looking at investments in the energy sector, with particular focus on alternative sources of energy,” Mr Kalaba said.

He thanked the Chinese government for increasing funding to Africa, comprising grants and concessional loans, from the US$20 billion offered at the last FOCAC meeting held in Beijing in 2012 to US$60 billion in 2015.

Mr Kalaba, who was flanked by Minister of Gender Nkandu Luo, expressed Zambia’s desire to maximise the benefits from the US$60 billion in various sectors.

He said Zambia and China, through China Development Bank (CDB), signed a loan agreement of US$418 million to finance the rehabilitation of roads on the Copperbelt under the C-400 project within the auspices of FOCAC.

The minister said the Zambian government has come up with priority projects for financing under the FOCAC framework, namely infrastructure development, including broadband communication network, construction and rehabilitation of the existing railway network to increase the speed of trains and reduce pressure on road usage.

In the energy sector, Mr Kalaba said Zambia wants investment in alternative energy sources such as wind, bio-mass, thermal, geo-thermal and solar.

Proposed projects in the tourism sector are the construction of a five-star and three-star hotels in Lusaka and Livingstone.

He also told Mr Zhang, who is China’s deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, that agriculture, with emphasis on agro-processing, is another sector needing more investment.

Mr Zhang said his government will welcome the delegation that Zambia will be sending to China soon.

He said President Lungu paid a successful visit to China last year and his meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Johannesburg FOCAC last December has consolidated bilateral ties between the two countries.

“We have reached consensus to deepen bilateral relations with Zambia. It’s up to our ministers to implement the consensus that our two Presidents have reached,” Mr Zhang said.

Mr Kalaba and Mr Zhang later went into a closed-door meeting.

He later met the United Kingdom Minister for Africa, the Overseas Territories and the Caribbean, James Duddridge.

11 COMMENTS

  1. The failure to transform tourism in Zambia is not lacking of hotels although we do not have many hotels. But is the way of doing business: the hotels are very expensive for local people and for many tourists comparable to advanced countries, as a result of this few local and foreign tourists visit our pleasure resorts.

    • @Michael Bwalya: “The failure to transform tourism in Zambia is not lacking of hotels although we do not have many hotels.” WOW, isn’t this statement contradictory?

      And it seems even the basic understanding of economics has escaped you. Are you telling me you have never heard of the principal of “SUPPLY AND DEMMAND” and how it effects prices? Look, it is simple, THE MORE SUPPLY YOU HAVE OF ANY COMMODITY, THE CHEAPER THE COMMODITY IS LIKELY TO BE!

      So, since you also agree that Zambia doesn’t have enough hotel accommodation, the little that exists will naturally be expensive. EXPENSIVE ENOUGH TO BE BEYOND WHAT MOST ORDINARY ZAMBIANS CAN AFFORD. And this factor is what has mostly contributed to the stagnation or non-growth of LOCAL TOURISM.

      So, if you want this sector to grow,…

    • continue…

      So, if you want this sector to grow and support local tourism, the initiatives being undertaken here by the Govt can only help and NOT hurt in the long run. DON’T JUST CRITSIZE WITHOUT THINKING PEOPLE!!!!!!

  2. The Chinese are quietly buying off Africans with all these hefty loans …our unborn great Grandchildren are already slaves to the Chines…what a bunch of short-sighted reckless leaders will have.

    • That’s it! China is hegemonising and all think it is Africa’s personal Jesus! Africa Needs a Revolution, let the youth of africa wrest their destiny out of These congenitally retarded bluffers and hypocrites in power all over the continent!!

    • Not ‘quietly’ buying Africa, in Zambia they are ‘noisily’ doing so – buying houses, companies, plots, etc. My Chinese neighbours at my farm are a terribly noisy lot.

  3. EXCELLENT. THIS IS THE WAY TO GO PF. STICK WITH CHINA AND DON’T WASTE TOO MUCH TIME WITH THE WEST. NOTHING VERY TANGIBLE WILL COME OUT OF THE WEST WHICH DID NOT HAPPEN DURING AND AFTER COLONIALISM. THE WAY FORWARD IS CHINA. IF ZAMBIA PLANS WELL, IT WILL SIMPLY DEVELOP WITH CHINA IN A BIG WAY BUT WITHIN A SHORTEST PERIOD OF TIME. THE NEXT 10 YEARS SHOULD MAKE PEOPLE SEE THESE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTION.

    HOWEVER, SUCH SENTENCES, “Proposed projects in the tourism sector are the construction of a five-star and three-star hotels in Lusaka and Livingstone”, ARE DISTURBING AND MAKES ONE THINK THAT ZAMBIAN GOVT DOESN’T KNOW WHAT IT IS DOING WHEN IT COMES TO TOURISM.

  4. THE ZAMBIAN GOVERNMENTS MUST IN THESE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA INCLUDE THE MODERNIZING OF SMALL TOWNS BUT POTENTIALLY VERY TOURISTIC SUCH AS SAMFYA, KAPUTA, MBALA/MPULUNGU AND OTHER ZAMBIA’S GREAT LAKES TOWNS. THIS CAN BE DONE, FIRSTLY, BY CONNECTING THIS PLACE WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF STATE-OF-THE-ART HARBORS AROUND THESE LAKES TO CONNECT STRATEGIC VILLAGES. SAY, A PROPER MODERN HARBOR AT SAMFYA, CHILUBI ISLAND, NSOMBO AND OTHER PLACES AROUND THE LAKE. THIS KIND OF DEVELOPMENT SHOULD BE CASCADED TO ALL OTHER LAKES OF ZAMBIA (NATURAL AND MAN-MADE). BUILDING 5-STAR HOTELS IN LUSAKA AND LIVINGSTONE SHOULD COME LATER BECAUSE THESE PLACES HAVE ATTAINED A SENSE OF DEVELOPMENT DIRECTIONS ALREADY. NOW, ZAMBIA NEEDS TO DEVELOP OTHER POTENTIAL BUT UNDEVELOPED PLACES. DON’T BE MISTAKEN, MAINLY TOURIST…

  5. …TOURISTS GO TO OTHER COUNTRIES FOR WATER, SUN AND SAND. OTHER THINGS OF INTEREST DEVELOP AS THEY ARE VISITING THESE PLACES. SO WHEN WE MODERNIZE THESE AREAS BY CONSTRUCTION OF VERY GOOD ROADS, ELECTRICAL SPEED TRAINS, HARBOURS, COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND A FEW OTHER THINGS WE WOULD HAVE CREATED THE NEEDED INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ANY INVESTOR’S DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS OF ANY SORT ESPECIALLY IN THE CONTEXT OF TOURISM AND IN TURN INCREASED VISITORS TO OUR COUNTRY 10 FOLD. MIND YOU BARCELONA ALONE RECEIVED MORE THAN 8MILLION VISITOR IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF (IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN), 2014 AND ONE CAN SEE WHY- ALL PLACES TO SEE ARE EASILY REACHABLE WITH FANTASTIC TRANSPORT ON ROAD, WATER AND AIR.

  6. Yes we need more infrastructure development to support development of other industries;Agric,Tourism and manufacturing. But going by some of the decisions like the US$418m to be spent on Copperbelt roads one can see that there are still no proper prioritising! That US$418 if it was invested in some hydro or a thermal power plant we could have been talking of reduce power shortages in the coming years by close 300MW.What is the real return we are going to get on these CB roads most which will go to residential areas? Now they are even talking about constructing hotels.Is govt going back to running hotels? Why not put proper infrastructure to other tourist sites e.g. Northern circuit which can then encourage tourist flows and hence private investment?

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