Former House of Chiefs chairperson, chief Kaputa had dispelled assertions that traditional leaders sold huge chunks of land to foreigners without government involvement.

Chief Kaputa said contrary to assertions by some sections of society that traditional leaders are fond of selling large pieces of land to foreign investors, no traditional leader has done that.

There has been complaints from Masaiti and Mwinilunga districts that traditional leaders have made it a habit to sell huge pieces of land to foreign investors at the expense of their subjects who end up being displaced.

The traditional leader said huge land investment requires government involvement.

He explained that chiefs’ mandate in terms of land allocation is limited to 250 hectares while the Ministry of Lands can allocate up to 1,000 hectares.

ZANIS reports that the chief wondered why some traditional leaders can be accused of selling huge pieces of land to foreign investors when their capacity to do so is limited to not more than 250 hectares.

“Honestly I do not know of any chief who has given large chunks of land to any foreigner. I say so because large land investment requires government participation,” chief Kaputa said.

The traditional leader added that government agencies are always involved when it comes to land allocation to foreign investors on projects of national interest adding.

He said supporting institutions such as local authorities are also consulted whenever the traditional leaders are dealing with matters of land.

“This then shows that no chief can give land without the involvement of other stakeholders,” he said.

ZICTA has today announced that it has granted Beeline Telecom Limited a licence to commence mobile phone operations in the country.

Beeline Telecom, a Zambian wholly owned company, will be required to commence operation within the next six months failure to which, unless determined otherwise by the Authority, the licence will be revoked.

Currently the mobile service operators include South African telecoms giant MTN, Airtel and local telecoms firm Zamtel.

The local company has been offered the international network and national services licences with associated resources and becomes the fourth mobile network services provider in the country.

ZCTA Director General Patrick Mutimushi, who announced the development in a statement, said the decision to introduce a fourth mobile operator was arrived at after conducting an analysis of the ICT Sector Market.

He added the decision was looked at from the perspective of, among others, the quality of services being provided by the incumbent licensees as well as the need to raise the levels of competition.

In September last year, the Authority invited applications for a network licence under the International Market Segment and a Service Licence under the national Market Segment with associated resources.

Mr Mutimushi said following a thorough evaluation process and Beeline, having met the minimum criteria, the Authority resolved to award the licence in question to the local company.

He added that since the cancellation of UZI Zambia’s licence in 2018 and considering the fact the challenges hounding the sector have continued, the Authority had re-embarked on seeking a fourth mobile operator.

“It is this process that culminated into issuance of the licence to Beeline Telecom Limited,” Mr Mutimushi said.

Opposition Green party leader, Peter Sinkamba has commended the Bank Zambia (BOZ) for the effort to control the surging inflation in the country.

Mr. Sinkamba has advised BOZ to manage the interest rate in order to regulate liquidity.

Mr. Sinkamba urged the Bank to put up measure that will regulation the inflation rate or risk reaching hyperinflation levels such as the experience for Zimbabwe.

“The onus is on Bank of Zambia to be on top of things by applying the monetary policy well to ensure that these issues are sorted out. Otherwise inflation is not good for the economy because it makes a lot of things to escalate,” Mr. Sinkamba said.

He said commodity prices have become out of reach for the poor and those whose salaries and wages are not marching the ever rising inflation.

Mr. Sinkamba further urged the BOZ to be smart in applying the monitory policy to ensure that economic growth is not affected as such will push inflation higher leading to low production of goods and services.

The Green party leader attributed the inflation in the country to low production of goods on the market and hence making consumers to share a few commodities on the market.

The Bank of Zambia announced the increase of the monetary policy rate by 50 basis points from 8 to 8.5 percent as a way to stop the rising inflation.

The Small Scale Miners Association of Zambia has advised large scale mining players to take advantage of the attractive prices of copper on the international market by increasing production.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS, association president, Kunda Chani said the current price of the copper on the international market is the highest since May 2012.

Mr. Kunda said the spring of electric vehicles has contributed to the adjustment of copper prices, hence the need for giant copper producing firms to increase production in order for them to benefit from rising copper prices.

He added that it is surprising that as the demand for the commodity is going up, copper production has remained low.

ZANIS reports that Mr. Kunda has since appealed to members of his association to focus on copper production stating that the current copper prices on the market are attractive.

“We are excited to see that copper prices have kept increasing on the international market. This should give our giant copper producing companies the impetus to increase production so that we benefit as a country,” he said.

Mr. Kunda said key mining players should actively increase their production, urging his members to also participate in the production of copper ore.

The Government has expressed happiness with the pace at which the construction of the Chibombo Multi-Facility Economic Zone (CMEZ) in Central Province is progressing.

Minister of Commence, Trade, and Industry, Christopher Yaluma also says the US$600 Million investment, is likely to create jobs and will help the country to actualize value addition from the vast raw materials that the country is endowed with.

ZANIS reports that Mr Yaluma made the remarks yesterday, when he toured the Economic Zone in Chibombo district to check on the work progress.

The commerce Minister explained that the industrialization trajectory that the government has embarked on, will propel manufacturing in the country which is key to macroeconomic growth.

“As government we are happy with the progress being made so far. This is one of the fastest economic zones being constructed in the country and the government will support it and provides incentives that will attract more investors in the country,” Mr Yaluma stated.

Mr Yaluma pointed out that the government remains resolute to ring-fencing the industrial development in the country for the mutual benefits of both the country and investors.

And Jiangxi Corporation Limited, General Manager, XU JIANFENG explained that 6.1 kilometers of roads have been tarred with US$ 40 million spent on infrastructure development.

Mr JIANFENG said 500 jobs have been created, with 1800 jobs expected to be created by the end of this year.

“We have so far spent US$ 40 million and work is going as planned and we are receiving maximum support from the government and the local communities. We have so far done 6.1 kilometers of internal roads and infrastructure has advanced as you can see and we will not relent in expediting this work,” he emphasized.

Once complete, the Chibombo Multi-Facility Economic Zone will have five functional areas among them Technological innovation area, modern agricultural area, and Industrial cooperation area.

The Economic Zone whose memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on September 5th, 2018 in China, is sitting on 760 hectares of land and is expected to create at least 6000 jobs by 2025.

The government has reaffirmed its commitment towards curbing further hiking of prices of goods and services in the country. Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Christopher Yaluma said the government is concerned with the sharp increase of prices for basic products in the country.

Mr Yaluma cited cement, sugar, wheat flour and cooking oil, as among the commodities whose prices have sharply increased. He pointed out that drastic measures have been put in place to mitigate the price hikes.

Mr Yaluma made the remarks in Lusaka yesterday during a press briefing. He underscored that the government is working with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to ascertain whether there is collusion and dominance among market players.

“We are concerned with the hiking of prices for basic commodities and our desire as the government is to have the manageable cost of living amongst the people. We are taking drastic measures to arrest the situation,” he said.

The Commence, Trade, and Industry Minister explained that the Bank of Zambia Act will be amended to halt the quoting of prices for goods and services in any foreign currencies.

He emphasized that government has among other things scrapped off the import duty of products to strike a balance in the market supply chain. Mr Yaluma was quick to mention that several factors have necessitated the increase in prices.

He cited the weakening of the local currency, the coronavirus pandemic and quoting of rental charges and key raw materials in the United States Dollars as among the instigating factors.