Govt receives overwhelming submissions on 8NDP – PS Chabala

Ministry of National Development Planning Permanent Secretary Chola Chabala has expressed satisfaction with overwhelming submissions from various stakeholders in all the 10 provinces during consultation on formulation of the Eighth National Development Plan (8NDP).

The Permanent was speaking at the final provincial stakeholder consultations meeting in Kasama, Northern Province.

“We have come to the end of the provincial consultative meetings for the formulation of the 8NDP. We have done consultations in all the provinces,” said Mr. Chabala, Permanent Secretary in charge of Development Planning and Administration. “The response has been overwhelming and we have had the mix of private sector, civil society, faith-based organisations, the chiefs, community leaders, and other stakeholders that have made submissions.”

He said the consultations have been inclusive in the spirit of leaving no one behind in formulation of the blueprint for the country’s development.

The Permanent Secretary explained that the National Planning and Budgeting Act No. 1 of 2020 was very instructive on the requirement for consultations.

Mr. Chabala explained that generally most stakeholders, especially those in largely rural provinces, submitted that the 8NDP should help address the development inequalities between urban and rural areas.

He said some submissions emphasised the need for inclusive growth, cushioning the wellbeing of the economically vulnerable people and communities, and attending to emerging issues such as climate change and recovery mechanisms from COVID-19-induced economic problems.

Speaking when he chaired the consultative meeting, Mr. Chabala told the participants that the National Planning and Budgeting Act No. 1 of 2020 provides that formulation of a successor national plan should commence two years prior to expiry of the current plan.

He said it was in that regard that Cabinet approved the commencement of the preparation of the 8NDP in October 2020 and guided that the Plan should be reform and recovery focused.

“The Ministry of National Development Planning has coordinated the preparation of an issues paper to inform the formulation of the 8NDP that has informed the proposed strategic focus areas for the 8NDP,” said Mr. Chabala.

Consultations have been undertaken in Eastern, Central, Copperbelt, Luapula, Lusaka, Muchinga, Northern, North Western, Southern and Western provinces.

The implementation period for the Seventh National Development Plan (7NDP), which has been the blueprint for Zambia’s development, comes to an end in December this year.