The Chinese contractor building the Kafulafuta dam has written to its subcontractors to say work has halted because of delayed payments from the government.
China National Complete Engineering Corporation (CCEC) is building the $499m Kafulafuta Dam on the Copperbelt, a project that will provide fresh water for some 1 million people.
On 5 February, it wrote to subcontractors to say that operations had been suspended.
Bruce Mwamba, secretary general of the Consortium of Local Contractors and Allied Suppliers said, “This is not good news for the subcontractors. A total of about 15 are affected. This means that 450 workers will be affected as a result of this indefinite suspension. We appeal to the relevant authorities to fund the contractor.”
However, Copperbelt Minister Japhen Mwakalombe disputed the reports saying the works had been halted because of heavy rains.
“You know very well that in any construction, it is not advised to continue with works when the ground is wet. So, the works have just stopped because of the rains,” he said.
The Kafulafuta Dam was commissioned in October 2018 and is due to be finished by the end of next year.
It will have a catchment area of 2,500 sq km with water supply capacity of 330,000 cubic metres a day and total volume of 125 million cubic metres.
The length of the dam will be about 1,300m and the surface area of the reservoir will be 19.5 sq km.
CCEC is a subsidiary of the state-owned the National Machinery Industry Corporation, or Sinomech for short, and specialises in power projects around the world, including two power plants in Nigeria.
China is redirecting its resources(about $7billion) to combating the Corona Virus outbreak.
They don’t care about less important issues like completing the PF political project before the 2021 elections.
Imagine more than half billion dollars going to Chinese and this is a GRZ project…then they will say we have given local firms 20% only in Zambia. No idea what value addition and social value is , they are just good at reading speeches. The Chinks will have to wait they misappropriated the funds for Chilubi by-election.
@Independent. This is not a PF political project. Water harvesting is one of the most sustainable environmental undertaking that any sensible leadership could undertake.
Sounds like a great project for the people, if only it can be completed…. The govt spread its project funds so thinly, its now creating this problem
Priorities change in every business or organisation. Nothing to see here
The minister is not being truthful. The dam has got two components, the dam itself and a pump station at Malaika school. I can understand work stopping at the dam site cos of rain, but the pump station can still be worked on even though there is rain because there is a lot of indoor work, but the site is deserted…
Which minister tells the truth apart from Dr Bwalya Ng’andu? That is why PF cannot solve any problem, if they can’t first accept that there is a problem. Ati there is no country in the world which doesn’t borrow!! Yes true but you don’t borrow like fyuuls!
What is the news here? it is obvious considering there is no money. Why are you even telling us. Please next topic.