TWO trade unions have said there was nothing sinister in the award of the contract to re-develop Society House and develop Central Arcade in Lusaka and described the financing agreement between National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) and Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS) as progressive.

Federation of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ) and Zambia Union of Financial Institutions and Allied Workers (ZUFIAW) said the agreement would boost the accounts of NAPSA.

They said ZNBS would have dented its books of accounts and rendered itself insolvent had it decided to borrow money to refurbish Society House and develop Central Arcade.

At a join media briefing in Lusaka yesterday, ZUFIAW president Cephas Mukuka and FFTUZ vice-president Charles Phiri said the decision by NAPSA was consistent with the international standards and cited Botswana where the pension authority had invested in houses to securethe money for the retirees.

They said NAPSA had an obligation to grow the workers’ contributions through the institutional diversification policy under the NAPSA Act Number 40 of 1996, which was assented to in 2004 when President Rupiah Banda was not even in Government.

Mr Mukuka said the earlier plans by NAPSA were to invest money in off-shore accounts but trade unions objected to the idea on the basis that the investment would have benefited people in foreign countries.

He said the process to construct Society House was started in 2004 when President Rupiah Banda was not in Government, while allegations that a Kenyan investor who had won the bid was Mr Banda’s friend were originated by The Post newspaper.

Mr Mukuka said Zambezi Consortium was formed by one company from South Africa, while the majority of the companies were Zambian firms.

He said all tender procedures were followed in the execution of the deal and that NAPSA was merely a fund manager and not ZNBS.

As a result, it would be easier for NAPSA to recover its US$98 million.

He said management at ZNBS had approached several companies inviting them to be equity partners but they all declined because the firm’s books of accounts indicated a negative balance of K52 billion.

Mr Mukuka said the firms that accepted partnership had offered unfavourable conditions that could have placed ZNBS in an awkward position.

Mr Mukuka said Cha Cha Cha House and Central Arcade in their current condition were in a serious state of dilapidation which called for urgent attention.

He explained that the deal had been reviewed further and that there were no losses for NAPSA which would instead gain through interest rates as it recovers the $98 million.

Mr Mukuka said during the transformation of NAPSA, ZUFIAW and FFTUZ were being represented by ZUFIAW general secretary Joyce Nonde and at no time did the Government interfere with the process.

He explained that the new structure would have a modern structure and an automated car parkwith a capacity of more than 1,000 vehicles.

Mr Mukuka said 1, 000 full-time jobs created would add value to the national economy through taxes, while the project also included a five-star hotel that would benefit the capital city.

[ Times of Zambia ]

THE latest Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report says although this year’s general elections are likely to be tightly contested, President Banda and the MMD are likely to win.

The report says the MMD will benefit from the advantages of incumbency and its formidable electoral machinery.

“However, the PF and Mr (Michael) Sata should put up a strong challenge to the MMD. Mr Sata narrowly lost the 2008 elections…,” it says.

The report adds that President Banda emerged from the MMD national convention in a much stronger position.

“Recent trends have shown that the MMD still has a bigger rural support base of about 65 percent of the total population,” the report says.

The report says political squabbling will intensify but stability will remain intact.

On policy agenda, the report says this will be underpinned by the Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP; 2011-15), the medium-term expenditure framework (2011-13) and the extended credit facility with the International Monetary Fund (2008-11).

It adds that despite the impending elections, a high degree of policy continuity is expected in 2011-12.

The report says fiscal policy in 2011-12 will be expansionary, with expenditure forecast to rise by an average of 17.2 percent per year.

“The government plans to implement a shift from public consumption to public investment, with the former projected to grow by 11 percent (on average) and the latter by 38 percent.

“Real GDP growth is expected to stay robust, at seven percent in 2011 and 7.2 percent in 2012. Agriculture is forecast to grow by an average of 6 percent as producers of maize continue to receive subsidies and as the country’s vast tracts of uncultivated arable land attract an influx of foreign direct investment,” the report says.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

Editor’s Note

Lusakatimes has the full original report but cannot publish it for copyright reasons because the report is meant for sale. If you want to get the original copy for about $23 go to

http://store.eiu.com/product/50000205ZM/wf-ssb-articles.html

The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has maintained the maize floor price of K65, 000 for a 50 kilogram (Kg) bag of maize and K60, 000 for a 40 kg bag of paddy rice.

And the FRA says it has targeted to purchase 1.3 million metric tonnes of maize at a cost of K1.69 trillion in this year’s agriculture marketing season.

The Agency has also set June 1 to October 31st as the period for 2011 agriculture crop marketing adding that the FRA will only buy maize with moisture content of about 12 percent.

FRA board Chairman, Brigadier General Maybin Sikweti announced this at a media briefing in Lusaka today.

He said that the agency arrived at the prices after carefully analyzing the cost of production and the prevailing local and regional markets.

“These prices were arrived at after carefully analyzing the cost of production and also after taking into account the prevailing local and regional market conditions.

” Initially we were supposed to reduce the prices of the commodities because we have a surplus but instead decided to maintain the floor prices considering the production cost our farmers have put in,” He said.

Meanwhile, the FRA is targeting to purchase 1.3 million metric tonnes of maize at a cost of K1.69 trillion in this year’s agriculture marketing season.

Brigadier General Sikweti said FRA will also purchase 5000 metric tonnes of paddy rice valued at K7.5 billion.

The Board Chairperson said the money to finance the exercise will be through government grants, crop sales and commercial borrowing.

He announced that the FRA has repaid the loan sourced from Finance Bank which it acquired last year for crop purchasing adding that it is in the process of repaying the US$140 million loan acquired from Standard Chartered by July this year.

Meanwhile the FRA has set June 1 to October 31st as the period for 2011 agriculture crop marketing adding that the FRA will only buy maize with moisture content of about 12 percent.

The Board Chairperson said the agency has since set up satellite deports in all the 74 districts where farmers will be selling their produce.

“The agency has set up buying points in all the 74 districts on average 15 satellite depots per district will be opened to ensure that the farmers have access to the market,” he said.

He has however said urged farmers to use the floor prices as guidelines when negotiating with other private buyers on the market.

Brigadier General Sikweti said FRA has embarked on a construction of 98 slabs in strategic positions with a total capacity of 450,000 metric tonnes to avert the challenges of limited storage space.

He also said that FRA has exported about 290,000 metric tonnes of maize valued at US$ 48.2 million to Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique and Congo DR.

“The FRA has also sold about 168,000 metric tonnes of maize valued at US$ 27.9 million to local millers in addition about 2,600 metric tonnes have been sold to local communities while 18,600 metric tonnes have been released to the Disaster management and mitigation Unit (DMMU) for relief distribution purposes” he said.

Zambia has this year recorded another bumper harvest of over 3 million metric tonnes of maize.

ZANIS

The new web-site is a new Map of Developments that visitors can see where regeneration and development is taking place in Zambia.

To assist those who are unaware of where developments are progressing in Zambia, President Banda is today launching a ‘Map of Development’ on his site at www.presidentbanda.com/map.

Visitors to the map can zoom in and out to get greater detail; they can view developments by province and by five different sectors which show, amongst others, developments in health, education, jobs created,and infrastructure projects.

This is contained in a statement to ZANIS by the President’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Dickson Jere.
And Unveiling the map, President Banda said: “I love this map because it shows everybody what development is really going on in Zambia. Next time somebody says nothing is being done in Zambia, show them this map.

Everybody can look at the map and see that development is taking place right on their doorsteps, in all provinces and all regions.

“Developing tomorrow’s Zambia is not guided by party loyalty, by religious belief or which tribe you are from.

It is done by genuine need and it is for all Zambians. I cannot wait to see the map when all the information is on it. Let this map be proof that when I said I would be a President for all Zambians, I really meant it.”

Data is being entered in reverse order by date and it is hoped to have as many entries as is possible. As there are a lot of entries to deal with, visitors that are being asked to bear with the data entry team.

The map is updated each Thursday. Pins are indicated and placed as close to the actual locations as possible. But in areas of high development, it is not always possible to hit an exact plot or location.
[ ZANIS ]