National Planning and Development Minister Alexander Chiteme says government has not made any decision on moving the capital city from Lusaka the newly created Ngabwe district in central province.
And Mr Chiteme says he fully supports the construction of a new State House as the current one is dilapidated.
Mr Chiteme who is also Nkana Member of Parliament said the announcement by his predecessor Lucky Mulusa that Zambia should move the capital city to Ngabwe was merely an idea.
He said cabinet has not even tabled the issue.
Mr Chiteme was speaking on Thursday when he featured on Hot FM’s Hot Seat radio programme.
“Let me call a spade a spade and not a spade a big spoon because the two are very different. A plan is an intended purpose. There has been no decision at least from what i have seen that places the decision to move the capital into Ngabwe,” Mr Chiteme said.
He added, “It might be an ambitious plan and there are other plans and suggestions that are there to decongest the capital city and those plans are being looked into and this is what i am passionate about, whatever plan is being perceived, it first has to go into appraisal mode. We have to appraise it and see if it feasible. From what i have seen, there has not been any decision on this issue.”
Mr Chiteme said the fact remains that Lusaka is congested.
“Yes we agree to the fact that Lusaka is congested and we are looking at possible solutions. It’s not a done deal, no one is saying we are moving the capital to Ngabwe, its one of the options that government might consider and its among the list of other options, we might even say move it into Kafue, we might even say move it into Kabwe. It’s not a foregone conclusion,” he said.
“My predecessor might have made the pronouncement but it is not a cabinet decision to say that Ngabwe has been earmarked and its a done deal. There is nothing at this stage to say we are moving the capital city. The issue of moving to Ngabwe was merely an idea but if at all we get to that decision, we could even decide to take the capital city to Kafue,” Mr Chiteme said.
During the same programme, Mr Chiteme disclosed that he fully supports the construction of a new State House.
He said the current State House is dilapidated and unfit for the purpose.
Mr Chiteme said he has been to State House on many occasions and that its state of disrepair is a source of concern.
And Mr Chiteme has announced that government will soon pass a law that will come up with a structured way of appraising government projects.
“We have to come up with a structured way of appraising projects. We are going to move away from project implementation before appraisal and this is going to be regulated by law. We need to assess social and economic impact of any project and benchmark it and questions whether the cost and economic value is right. The haphazard way of trying to justify projects will be done away with,” he explained.
A littered desk, sign of working hard or just being disorganised!
You fired Mulusa one of the few hard workers so what plan can you have? Instead you want to keep overcrowding that sh1thole city we call Lusaka! A proper useless town, its not a city but a shanti town! It used to be a town when ba tata Sata was governor but it started going under when he was replaced with that Nyama Soya cretin Bwezani!
For what? This is just typical African mentality always running away from your own mess instead of just cleaning it up,just like West African jumping on any dingy boat running away from your own sh&t instead of just wiping it off, how old are European cities compared to lusaka? Just do a facelift imwe.
They sold Lusaka to AVIC.
In other news, Frank Bwalya has been appointed as High Commissioner to Australia.
Does this guy know what he is talking about, really? Honestly, when he says we are considering other options to decongest Lusaka, I would have expected him naming the options to kick-start public debate which could lead to new ideas for a solution. Zambians have the right to know what the solution will be and take part in the decision making if the capital will be moved. Other countries involve their people through a referendum, therefore, would expect the same for Zambia. So bwana Minister, involve Zambians in the decision making, provide information as much as possible, rather than those vague statements that you are considering other options. It seems your decision is being influenced by where you want to build your State House, rather than what is good for Zambians.
How can the state house be delapidated when the White House is over a century older and still standing strong? Why not just renovate and maintain the place? Why don’t we want to maintain our things ??
In the new capital city the minimum qualification for one to work and live should be a first university degree. It had to be a smart city and strictly no cows on the roads.
And no PF kaponyas
Those of you buying tracts of land in Lusaka, be very careful. As far as I know, a contractor has already been identified to move everything to Ngabwe. We are already planning to rename Ngabwe to a name easier to mention (something like Bwengwa). Very soon Lusaka will be ruins. Town planning have already started on conceptual plans. Go and buy plots from Ngabwe (Bwengwa) city Coucil!!!
The idea definitely is a good one……politicians are so quick to discard the predecessor effects in a bid to woo support that you are a new broom……That ministry in-tells such ideas should be coming fourth from there…so what are you bringing in so we know change is here Zambia is moving forward than just rub off good ideas ….grow up Mr Minister
You are already at the IMF begging for a bail out progamme. Can you start on a new capital city from scratch. What is wrong with Lusaka. All that is required is to resettle residents of Chibolya, Kanyama, George, Mandaevu Garden, Kalingalinga , Mtendere and Bauleni in a Newtown beyond Ngwerere and redevelop the areas at a much cheaper cost than moving everything from Cabinet Office to National Archives to greenfield Ngabwe. There is already a concept paper on this at NHA. If you want a beautiful place for the capital then try Samfya, Nchelenge, Lukulu, Chilubi or Zambezi. There is nothing different in Ngabwe that Lusaka does not have. Stop dreams that will only shoot your nkongole to kingdom come.
a city of 2 million congested? my foot. you guys just don’t want to do the right thing. you don’t need to be a genius to know what needs to be done in Lusaka. 1 divert passing through traffic from lusaka. you need to ensure that all trucks headed for walvis bay don’t get to lusaka – from CB and Solwezi divert all traffic through Kasempa to Kaoma and then sesheke 2. if they have to, let them pass either through lusaka west or airport. 3. for Lusaka traffic, ensure that you have intelligent traffic lights that can change as per amount of traffic on each road. 4 get rid of round abouts/traffic circles theyre useless.
What about people congestion how are you going to divert them. It’s not just about traffic.
Indeed a new capital is needed for this nation coz lusaka is now equivalent to a village. Lets try to move so as to also bring development to some places like NGABWE or any places that still doesn’t have hope to development
Ba Chitemene kindly review the LUCID report at LCC. It is a good document that was done by JICA experts if we execute it Lusaka will be a beautiful town
New PF cabinet ministers
National planning Chiteme-MMD
Finance Mutati-MMD
Commerce Mwakatatwe-MMD
Gender Kalima-MMD
Local Govt Mwale-MMD
F/affairs Malanji-MMD
Health Chitala-MMD
Agriculture Siliya-MMD
Where would PF be today without the support of MMD?
MMD is the one ruling in the disguise name of PF!
And when Ngabwe become over crowed where are you going to shift capital city to and how much are you going to remain with as kick backs from Chinese constructors because the way we know you our leaders.
And Mr Chiteme says he fully supports the construction of a new State House as the current one is dilapidated.
The British parliament building is being given a face lift and was built in the 1400 but your state house was built after 1935.
Mulusa is used to living in Solwezi.why move Lusaka to the bush?we have built houses here so we need to enjoy life here.Zambia is Lsk and Lsk is Zambia,sorry ba kopala but this is the fact!!let us just keep on improving Lusaka and yes build a new state house and not that old one.
God bless Zambia!!
we dont need another city or state house we should clean what we have ,as someone has asked how old is London and Buckingham palace and other European cities,we need to sort out these problems not running away to new cities…
@R.B:please take note;if HH won in 2016 the following ex MMD Mps could have been in his cabinet;
HH’s cabinet could have been;
Prof.Lungwangwa-MMD,
Dr.Situmbeko Musokotwane-MMD,
Elijah Muchima-MMD,etc
You only fail when you quit…Lusaka is fine… just ask building engineers and city planners to help you ba Chiteme and you PROOF of FAILURES (PF) to help you think well and standardize Lusaka….you have failed us that’s why you want to quit Lusaka to go to waste…our current government is not governing our country they are just reacting to everything… please get organized bring back our country to it’s normal status… there’s no you can be talking about our economy that it’s on its knees …it really hurts….90%of Zambian are suffering
Can someone describe the location of Ngambwa using references and how to get there. I have no clue where this place is relative to Lusaka, Kafue, Mumbwa, or Landless Corner.
Sorry I meant Ngabwe.
This CHITEMENE man needs to be Minister of youth and sports , national planning is too big for him even the office is bigger than him he ONLY occupies a small portion, MULUSA analikuzula pa Chair. State house is not in a state of disrepair Don’t misuse words, a state of dis repair means even you attempt to repair u cannot restore its original state. Example is PF is in state of dis repair as it is infested by MMD, its the first time in Zambian history for Government to headed by TWO political party leaders PF -ECL Head of state MMD -MUTATI – Head of finance (the whole country imagine)
Move it but find a better name not Ngabwe, sounds HHish.