Dorothy Mulwila speaks to Special Assistant for Project and Monitoring
to the President Lucky Mulusa at State House when they called on him
STATE House Special Assistant for Project Monitoring and Implementation Lucky Mulusa has assured the nation that most construction projects which have either stalled or slowed down will be funded and completed by middle of this year.
Mr Mulusa said the domestic and global economic indicators were currently improving and hence normal funding levels were expected by mid this year.
He said there would be more challenges which might arise if uncompleted projects remained in the status.
Mr Mulusa was speaking to journalists in Livingstone yesterday after touring the International Bus Terminus and Town Centre Ultramodern Market which are currently under construction.
About K49 million is needed to complete the Bus Terminus while about K26 million is needed to complete the Modern Market.
Construction for the two projects started in 2013 in readiness for the 2013 United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly in Livingstone but works are still underway to construct the projects.
Mr Mulusa said the problem of lack of funding was not only an issue for the two Livingstone projects but across the country following various challenges in the global economy which affected the domestic economy.
He said things were looking brighter currently as the Government was anticipating to raise money to ensure that all projects were able to start running.
“When I go to Lusaka, will engage Ministries of Local Government, Finance and Works and Supply to ensure all projects are treated equally without any discrimination.
“The slow completion of projects and lack of funding should be understood that our economy is integrated into the global economy and hence the external shocks have affected us.
“These are not the only projects suffering. There are other projects that have slowed down such as township roads, houses and administration blocks, hospitals and schools especially on new districts,” he said.
Mr Mulusa said economy had cycles and hence economies which were integrated into other economies would always face challenges.
“The good news is that we are getting out of the global economic challenges and we should get to normal funding levels by mid this year and all projects will get back to normal levels of activities.
“The Ministry of Finance is looking at sourcing for funding. The more we allow projects to remain in uncomplete statue, the more challenges we are likely to face such as vandalism among others,” Mr Mulusa said.
He was however very impressed with the quality of works, design and beauty done at the International Bus Terminus.
“I am very impressive as this is a world-class asset and it can compare to stations in the first world.
“As Zambians, we need to work together rather than looking for faults and condemn those who are trying to deliver. The cost overrun is quite understood,” Mr Mulusa said.
At the modern market, Mr Mulusa said he had noticed some design flaws and asked the contractors to consult health inspectors to ensure that there was little or no contact between fresh foods and general public as well as sick people and the public.
Earlier, Ndilila Associates director Francis Ndilila said electricity as well as water and toilets were going to be installed at the Bus Terminus within few weeks.
Dr Ndilila, who is consortium team of contractors, architects and other experts for the project, said the remaining works which mainly included roads would be completed within four months once the funding was available.
“We need about K49 million to finish remaining works. This is a door mate asset and we are glad Mr Mulusa is here to help us.
“So far we are at 98 per cent competition for the building. Roads have undergone two rain season and we need to strengthen them. To-date we have spent about K45 million but unfortunately we had to pay Value Added Tax (VAT) VAT and this brings the total to about K35 million,” Dr Ndilila said.
Town Centre Modern market contractor Herbert Yassin Phiri said about K26 million was needed to finish the remaining work.
Mr Phiri, who is Matty Construction Limited managing director, said the remaining works involved the internal finishing of the first and second floors.
“If money was available, it can take three months. More than 60 and 70 per cent works have already done so far.
“We have not received any funding from seven months ago in October 2015. We revised the project up to April but we have to apply for a further extension because of lack of funding,” Mr Phiri said.
Thanks for the update sir
The cost overruns are NOT understood. This is the way PF have been stealing public resources. How can a project that should have been completed in 2013 be unfinished up to now? Is this party of the “globo” stoopidity of PF?
Muslusa, mid this year is only one month in between. Chances are that you are using 90 days theory which was crafted by someone who have limited ability to count and it turned out to be the whole 5 years term. Please inform the nation which projects will be completed and what will be the total cost tagging alone the source of the funds. Mulusa, you have made the job of the government’s building department irrelevant.
But you will be out of government mid this year.
They have borrowed and borrowed and yet they are failing to complete projects in five years.Its like pouring water in a bucket will holes.PF is corrupt and distructive.We can not continue to risking the well being of the country in the hands of these criminals.How do they complete projects when we are not producing anything to contribute to the much needed tax.Its from Tax that Mwanawasa built most of the infrastructure.
Why have they stalled and where are you going to get the funds from??
From a layman’s view, there seems to be something wrong with the figures being bandied around on the international bus stop. The project used K35m to reach 98% completion and yet the remaining 2% requires K49m?? We just hope this masterpiece will not be overrun by unruly cadres once operational! The government is sweating to fund the project, but once complete, cadres come from nowhere to take over the facility!
That is PF counting at its best. Everything is dochi kubeba. In this case Mulusa has no capacity to supervise projects at this magnitude and hence cannot even do simple estimates of works done with much value estimates. If the hiring officer was attentive enough he should have fired this officer a long time ago.
I thought you borrowed to implement these projects you call “unprecedented development” and “Zambia has been turned into a construction site”
Question 1 – What is a “door mate” estimate as quoted from Ndilila
Question 2 – Why do the roads need “strengthening after 2 rainy seasons” as quoted from Ndilila. Were they not built to specification?
Question 3 – Yassin Phiri (the contractor) states he requires ZWK26Million to finish the works yet Ndilila starts off by stating “We need about K49 million to finish remaining works” Why is there a a K23Million Variance between the 2 figures?
Question 4 – Yassin Phiri is quoted as stating that “If money was available, it can take three months. More than 60 and 70 per cent works have already done so far”. Ndilila is quoted as stating “So far we are at 98 per cent competition for the building.” Who is telling the truth?
Ba folosho you are mixing the two projects here, Ndilila is talking about the bus terminus while Phiri about the market, please ke time to read through the whole article before you comment, you are openly showing your dullness.
I meat “take time to read”