By Chaka Zulu
Part 1
One evening three years ago as I was watching the ZNBC main news, a news item appeared that the then Special Assistant to the President for Projects and Implementation Hon. Lucky Mulusa said that Government had identified Ngabwe district as the place where the New Capital City of Zambia would move to.
I was shocked at why Government would do that. Thoughts like what would remain of Lusaka City (the current Capital City of Zambia) were on my mind. My thoughts were moved because I have three properties in Lusaka where I get a good rental return.
My thoughts were only relaxed when both the Minister of Lusaka Hon. Japhet Mwakalombe and the Presidential Spokesperson Mr. Amos Chanda both announced on separate occasions that government had no such intentions and that those were Hon. Mulusa personal views.
However, I started researching why Countries around the world change Capital Cities. I among others found out that Brazil’s capital relocated from overcrowded Rio de Janeiro to the planned, built city of Brasilia in 1961. Another is Nigeria. In 1991 the capital of Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, was moved from Lagos because of overcrowding. Abuja, a planned city in central Nigeria. In the 1970s, Tanzania’s capital began the move from coastal Dar es Salaam to centrally-located Dodoma.
From my research I found that countries change capital cities for a number of reasons. Some of these include over crowding, location, unplanned City, political, economic and religious just to mention a few.
About a month ago, I managed to chat with Hon. Mulusa at his farm with his father when (my firm) went to spray the cows and install mobile drinkers. I asked him if he didn’t mind to educate me about why he wanted a new capital of Zambia to be constructed and why he choose Ngabwe.
Hon. Mulusa agreed and started by telling me that Zambia missed being the Brussels of Southern Africa.
He then went on to say that it was open gossip that Lusaka City (the current capital city of Zambia) was a poorly planned city as can be testified by the high number of unplanned settlements, the high number of diseases such as cholera which affect the city during the rain season and the lack of properly developed infrastructure and social facilities.
And then I asked him why Ngabwe?
“Because it is everything that a modern developed capital city has. It is a cocktail of London, Paris and New York City without Infrastructure,” Hon Mulusa said.
He went further and told me that Ngabwe district which is located in Central Province is more centrally located than any part of the country. Furthermore it it the mid point of the Copperbelt and Lusaka Province which are the two power houses of Zambia. Lastly but not the least, it has a beautiful scenery as it has the Kafue National Park and also has the Lukanga Swamps.
Then I asked if we had the money to fund such a mega project and who will construct the new city. This was his plan:
To be continued in Part 2
He is thinking big, but as usual small minded cretins will rubbish his progressive ideas. To be black and Zambian at the same time is a curse.
I am picturing it… it is a fantastic dream!!
Dig out pictures of Lusaka in 1919, my goodness it was a village.
Pungwa: Wht kind of self-hate is this? Who told you that other races don’t disagree or oppose proposals from their own kind? Look @ Israel for example. It’s not easy to form a majority government bcos there’s so much disagreement in Israeli society. In fact most things in Jewish culture and history are disputed. The Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible are also another example.
The biggest problem with africans is forgetting!
Haven’t we had enough nonsense of moving the capital of southern province to choma, creating new districts creating new provinces?
With all the nkongole you have?
Why not expand the city outwards all new malls must not be in already crowded places.
The problem of Africans is that good ideas come with intention to thicken their pockets…..
Lucky Mulusa was just thinking aloud on the new capital city project in Ngabwe. How does someone announce publicly something that had not even been considered and passed as policy by cabinet? It’s possible to change capital city but Zambians hv to demonstrate that they’re serious with local government administration. When I visited former mayor late Wilson Kalumba in his office, I was shocked by what I saw. Simply not worth mentioning if u’re a patriot. Could being in Ngabwe change that? Dream on.
Very shallow. No substance in the article. What is author trying to say?
No need for DNA
the guy was right, all major world cities are built on the countries major water bodies except for joburg
Villages, towns and cities need water to survive and it is no mystery that they are build near rivers apart from oceans. As for Jo’burg it owes its existence to gold but even then there must be water somewhere.
We need a new capital city between kafue and mazabuka. Govt must repossess all properties on kafue river banks and turn into state land
Kafue river has to be party of city landscape.
We need skyline, mordern smart buildings
It is Ngabwe boss. It is more central.
Actually before the discussion gets picked by some corrupt chap seeking to benefit from kickbacks let sanity arise. We have a myriad so called newly created districts that have no development plans. Our provincial centres ate in a state of disrepair with airports and other infrastructure dilapidated. Rural folk are migrating from villages into these centres by numbers adding pressures on social services. Be realistic. Let’s discuss how to make our provinces more vibrant and modernized. Trash new capital city and instead make provincial centres cities!!!! The amounts required might be much less and the long term benefits huge. This is in line with decentralisation practice or does that not matter as well? Except corruption!
Actually before the discussion gets picked by some corrupt chap seeking to benefit from kickbacks let sanity arise. We have a myriad so called newly created districts that have no development plans. Our provincial centres are in a state of disrepair with airports and other infrastructure dilapidated. Rural folk are migrating from villages into these centres by numbers adding pressures on social services. Be realistic. Let’s discuss how to make our provinces more vibrant and modernized. Trash new capital city and instead make provincial centres cities!!!! The amounts required might be much less and the long term benefits huge. This is in line with decentralisation practice or does that not matter as well? Except corruption!
In my view, i think lusaka city is not over crowded neither is it poorly planned. everything i see in lusaka are temporal structures which can be demolished and re-done under a proper plan. Do you call townships like chibolya, misis, john leing just to mention a few poor overcrowding? these are makeshift houses which can be demolished and expand the city with a good plan. e.g. Zambia railway terminal can be moved to misis together with intercity bus terminal, we can then do a dual carriage way under the fly over bridges along side a sunken railway truck unlike building substandard guest houses and shops along that area. The zesco pylons between carrusel mall and mumbwa road can be constructed below the carriage way along that stretch.
This can be a twenty years plan which will benefit…
How many times are you going to move the capital city? The capital city was moved from Livingstone to Lusaka because it was not centrally located just like the capital city from Lagos to Abuja in Nigeria. There is no capital city which is located in the EXACT central position.
The difference between a white man and a black man is not the colour but in the ability to plan. i wonder if at all we have town planners in zambia or maybe such offices have been take up by political carders. How does one build a road today and the following day you are digging it up to lay cables under it. In the western world, when an infrastructure is built, it is meant to remain relevant even after 200 years. this is what we call visionary planing. Please Lusaka City council get my advice. you guys are ever travelling and you see how other countries have planed their cities. you come back and sit in your offices without being inspired. where there’s a will, there’s a way. rome was not built in a single day but it takes a consistent policies of infrastructure development.
In my opinion Lusaka has already lost out and there is no remedy to it , the whole infrastructure is in a crisis no room for any additional projects , houses are being built in wrong places really it is total confusion , but you have the prestigious K K international airport how is it going to add up ; however Zambia has enough land mass why not spread wings to places which are more convenient than the old Lusaka city , let Lusaka remain as a city but be less capital to Ngabwe I like the kumishiyesu in Kabwe as is the centre of zambia.
Forget about southern province it once hosted the capital city now it is time for Ngabwe , go Ngabwe go it is your time to shine and jealous down.
We do really need to change the capital city for our country. Lusaka can remain the Judicial and Legislative capital.
just clean up you filth in lsk.
you want to go and litter another area imwe bamambala. you want to clog up the natural environment like you’ve done in lsk
your city council are a lazy butch, nothing works in lsk, you’ve failed to control the street vendors. makeshift structures everywhere.
look across from your so called hero’s stadium, really, what kind of planning is that? that’s one sorry sight. I wonder what players think when they look on the other side of the road as they are driving up for a soccer game
no i’ll not allow you to move, if you want to move, clean up all the s hit in Lusaka, then move. who do you expect to clean the mess you’ll be leaving behind?
May be take it to Muchinga
It is shame to Zambia, that we have such a capital city of Lusaka and we are even proud to mention it, Lusaka lacks infrastructure that would rate it amongst other capitals in Africa, and what surprises me is that there is even no future vision/plan for it. Look at other cities in Africa have towers and sky scrappers thats how a capital should be. Not this Kalingalinga village in name of Lusaka. We still have a chance to do some damage control on Lusaka if we can have visionary leaders. The ngabwe is not bad given Lusaka is a failed project. Before i travelled the world i thought we had something to show for , but even just our fellow African cities are way much better than us, what a shame