Government has assured the Millennium Challenge Corporation, of Zambia’s commitment to ensuring that it meets the criteria and remains eligible for the Millennium Challenge Account funding.

Finance Deputy Minister Chileshe Kapwepwe says Zambia remains committed to accessing funding for the Greater Kafue National Park Economic Development and the Lusaka water supply, sanitation and Drainage project.

Ms Kapwepwe said this when she met Millennium Challenge Corporation Deputy Vice President Darius Teter in Washington DC.

This is according to a statement released by First Secretary for Press at the Zambian Mission in Washington, Ben Kangwa.

And MCC Vice President Darius Teter observed that the Lusaka Water Supply and drainage project is important as it aims at improving access to water and sanitation for people in Peri-urban settlements.

Mr. Teter said that over one billion United states dollars will be required for constructing and erecting infrastructure needed for the provision of an efficient water and sanitation delivery system.

And Millennium Challenge Corporation Country Director Kyeh Kim said that the Tourism and Hospitality act will create an enabling environment for the private sector to participate in the promotion of tourism.

Ms Kapwepwe was accompanied to the meeting by Special Assistant to the President on Economic Affairs Dr Richard Chembe and Zambian Ambassador to the US, Sheila Siwela.

And President Rupiah Banda has called for a positive work culture if Zambia is to realise the Vision 2030 and attain the Mellinium Development Goals -MDG’s .

Mr Banda says a positive work culture has a good impact on national development.

The President is concerned that highly qualified and skilled personnel have failed to perform to expected standards resulting in organisations not meeting expected goals and targets.

Mr Banda said this in a speech read on his behalf by Vice President George Kunda at the National Institute for Public Administration -NIPA- 11th graduation ceremony in Lusaka.

And NIPA Executive Director Answell Saka said his institution will by the end of this year introduce E – learning and digital conferences.

ZNBC

Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane today presents the 2011 national Budget to Parliament as he among others issues, spells out how Government intends to apportion the proposed K17 trillion Budget to achieve the projected 6.6 per cent growth.

As Dr Musokotwane climbs up the stairs of Manda Hill to unveil the contents in the copper-coated briefcase, the country will be anxiously waiting to hear how the Government would achieve some of the pronouncements by President Rupiah Banda during the official opening of the fifth session of the 10th National Assembly.

In September this year, Secretary to the Treasury Likolo Ndalamei announced that the Government was proposing a K17 trillion budget for 2011.

The Government also announced that the economy was expected to grow by 6.6 per cent this year, an upward revision from the projected five per cent that was contained in the previous Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

When the president opened Parliament last month, he said in the year 2010 there were some challenges that included declining domestic tax revenue and reduced donor support for the health and road sectors.

There was, therefore, need for continued economic growth and for the Ministry of Finance to review tax policy and administration.
Zambians will thus, be expectant about how the Ministry of Finance will review the tax policy and administration in view of the declining domestic tax revenue and reduced donor support for the health and road sectors.
Some analysts have recently said that there was need to broaden the tax base to capture the informal sector to lessen the burden on the close to 400,000 citizens in the formal sector.
Still on this front, Zambians are expected to hear whether Pay As you Earn (PAYE) would be reviewed in this year’s Budget. In the 2010 Budget, the PAYE threshold was raised from K700,000 to K800,000.
Dr Musokotwane will also stipulate how Government will shift focus from the current scenario to create fiscal space through the expansion of domestic revenues, the reduction of lower priority expenditures and the allocation of more resources to infrastructure and human development.

This is the year when the Government will be launching the sixth National Development following the expiry of the 5th NDP which was a success as it has achieved most of the targets set out.

It is also expected that the minister will also announce how Government will apportion the K17 trillion in a year Zambia is expected to go to the polls.

In his Green paper presented last month, Mr Ndalamei said the projected growth of 6.6 per cent is on account of the better than expected performance in several sectors of the economy during the first half of 2010.

During the last farming season, Zambia recorded the largest maize harvest in history of approximately 2.7 million tonnes compared with the 1.8 million in the previous season. This owing largely to the good policies to support smalls scale farmers.

The president in his opening speech indicated that the Government intends to maintain the positive developments in the agriculture sector by increasing the number of beneficiaries on the Farmer Input Support Programme from 500,000 upwards.

The Government also realises the importance of not depending on rain-fed crop and has embarked on putting up irrigation facilities to ensure farming is an all year round activity.

Mr Banda in his address said this year’s projections are that growth will remain at about 6.6 per cent or even higher.

“This growth is being driven by the mining, agriculture, tourism and construction sectors,” he said.
This being the first year since the Budget cycle was changed, it is expected that the minister will give an update on its performance with regard to the economy and infrastructure development.

The Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) has said the agriculture sector should be competitive for it to effectively contribute to the national economy.

Speaking in an interview ahead of the 105th annual congress, ZNFU head for outreach member services and administration Coillard Hamusimbi said the only way that agriculture could be competitive was by farmers striving to produce high quality products.

The annual congress starts today and President Rupiah Banda is scheduled to officially open the meeting whose theme is “Productivity, competiveness and market development,” which Mr Hamusimbi said was meant to highlight the importance of competitiveness in the sector.

“We have noted that production efficiency is still low particularly among the small-scale farmers as they are only able to produce 2.5 tonnes per hectare but using conservation farming, they can produce five tonnes per hectare and if we make agriculture competitive, we can export at reasonable cost,” Mr Hamusimbi said.

The problem that has led to Zambia fail to export was the cost of production and transport which were on a higher side than others in the region.
[pullquote]“We have noted that production efficiency is still low particularly among the small-scale farmers as they are only able to produce 2.5 tonnes per hectare but using conservation farming, they can produce five tonnes per hectare and if we make agriculture competitive, we can export at reasonable cost,” Mr Hamusimbi said.[/pullquote]
The livestock sector was cardinal and Government needed to control livestock diseases which were a perennial problem for many farmers.

During the congress, Mr Hamusimbi anticipated that the problem of livestock diseases would be tackled as the union had invited experts from 10 regional countries.

The experts from other countries would be able to highlight how their respective nations had overcome the problem of livestock diseases.

The congress is expected to bring together about 400 delegates from 65 districts and others from neighboring countries.
[ Times of Zambia ]