The Construction of 44 houses for the blind and disabled people that have been resettled to pave way for development of a $450 million Kafulafuta Dam project in Masaiti district in Copperbelt province has neared completion.
Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company (KWSC) Planning and Development Manager, Paul Billima, says the houses are mostly for those that had been displaced from the government run Blind Centre in the district.
Mr Bilima further said the 44 houses are part of over 250 houses that the contractor, China Complete Corporation, have been built for people as part of compensation for their relocation since the Dam project was launched in the district.
He said the company expects to move all the affected people into the new houses by the end of April and thereafter commence works on the Dam project along Kafulafuta River.
In an interview with ZANIS shortly after inspecting the houses, Mr Bilima said once completed the project would see the company extracting more than 300,000 cubic metres of water a day.
Mr Billima further stressed that the project will also create employment and opportunities for people to engage in fish farming among other ventures.
“These extractions will improve service delivery by Kafubu and adequately serve the districts. The project will create thousands of jobs for the locals and allow us to improve service delivery,” he said.
And Zambia Agency for Persons with Disability Inspector, John Kununa, has commended the project whose standards he described as impressive.
Mr Kununa was however quick to call upon the contractor to provide ramps at the entrances of the houses to cater for the disabled in the area.
“We need to have some ramps built to allow easy access for people on wheelchairs, otherwise we are very impressed with the standards of the houses,” he said
Mr Kununa has since urged people that will occupy the houses to take care of them and form committees that would look into issues of cleanliness and maintenance of the facilities.
The Kafulafuta dam project, funded by Government through a loan secured from Exim Bank of China, is expected to start this month of which when completed will provide clean and safe water in Masaiti, Mpongwe, Ndola and Luanshya districts.
The Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations (Statutory Instrument No. 28 of 1997) and the Environmental Management Act No. 12 of 2011 mandate the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) to enforce fair compensation and resettlement of persons affected by any development project or programmes across the country.
Project is welcome; but more money will end up in Kaizer and Lungu and his minister’s pockets from this project;
$450 MILLION? really?
When I saw the cost I thought that this was a power hydro dam for generating electricity…. but it is just an ordinary dam for storing drinking water. This should have been less that $5 MILLION
Good development BUT this sounds like an a VERY EXPENSIVE DAM, $450MILLION ON A SMALL RIVER ,KAFULAFUTA?? THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY IS EQUIVALENT TO CREATING A DAM AND INSTALLING HYDROELECTRICITY GENERATING EQUIPMENT ON A BIG RIVER like Kalungwishi, Lunsemfwa etc! BUT this sounds like ONLY A DAM FOR STORING WATER, but this whopping amount $450 MILLION…CLOSE TO HALF A BILLION$, something fishy here THAT IS WHY THESE CHINESE LOANS AND CONTRACTORS WILL LEAVE MUCH POORER THAN BEFORE especially when we can’t even guarantee the quality of infrastructure and its lifespan!! THERE IS NEED TO CARRY OUT AN AUDIT OF ALL THESE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS TO SEE IF THEY ARE PROPERLY PRICED!!
Before you post your comments, post your qualifications.
@2.1 Shu shu.. I believe we would be fair to ask you to post your psychiatric record before you post comments!!
Money is not absolute but the value it returns. In perspective, Itezhi-Tezhi discharges about 3 million cubic metres per day. Ten times less will be harvested from this dam for use in C/B cities whose Kafue river is polluted guaranteeing clean water for over 2 m people. A far much larger dam than from those denkete animals drink but which can’t produce electricity simply coz its head water is not at a high enough elevation
Today Itezhi-Tezhi dam will cost over US$5 billion. Batoka will be close to US$20 billion. So good value for money here. What’s the option to provide sufficient clean water to Copperbelt people at good value? Trust Govt. Messing your mind believing its officials are stealing all the time is messing up your mind.
The newly constructed houses are part of the $450million.
@3 Mutulang’oma, EVEN IF WE INCLUDE HOUSES,… how many are they and of what standard and at what price? $450 Million is A LOT OF MONEY …
Amazing! Zambians do not see anything wrong by spending 450 million dollars for water storage dam! This is like throwing money into a pit! It is not even productive by generating power, just water for domestic use! Something is wrong here!
Off topic, I’m calling for Zindaba Soko of RTSA to resign with immediate effect. He has failed to run this department. When Kitwe motorists complained about RTSA failure to issue them with road licenses, he blamed them for leaving it to the last minute which he claims leads to congestion. I put to him that the congestion is artificial and is created by his men so that we can be forced to pay the the so called agents called ba pungwa. These agents later pass part of the money to the officers who without pass to their superiors. Other government departments have devised systems which have completely eliminated overcrowding so why is RTSA not doing the same?