Government has set aside K7.5 billion for the creation of the new tourism zone in Livingstone in Southern province.

Vice President George Kunda disclosed this in Livingstone today saying this is in an effort to diversify the country’s economy in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Mr. Kunda said this shortly after his arrival in Livingstone where he is to officiate at the Africa Mining Congress today.

He noted that the creation of the tourism zone in the tourism capital will help diversify the economy in the country.

He also said once the Zimba-Livingstone road is completely rehabilitated, tourism activities would be enhanced in the city.

Government has since set aside K99 billion in this year’s budget for the same road.

And Mr. Kunda has restated President Rupiah Banda’s call on Zambians to produce more food in order to promote domestic food security and encourage exports of the Zambian produced agricultural products.

He said it was important for Zambia to strengthen its agriculture sector, adding that it is government’s policy to diversify this sector.

He said government was confident that the people of Southern province will rise to the challenge of growing more food.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kunda said civil servants were critical in promoting good governance in the country and has since urged them to continue maintaining discipline in order to help implement government’s developmental agenda.

He urged the civil servants in the province to cut down on unnecessary expenditure and warned that government will not tolerate any wastage of public funds.

He said Zambia has continued with its good governance records which have continued to attract donor and investor confidence.

The Vice President said government, under President Banda’s leadership, will continue fighting corruption, which he said is one way through which Zambia can counter effects of the global financial crisis.

Furthermore, Mr. Kunda has urged the MMD in Southern province to unite and recruit more members to make the party even stronger.

He said there is need to further strengthen the party in the province despite the challenges that the province is dominated by an opposition political party.

He however commended the people of Livingstone for voting for President Banda in the October 30th 2008 election.

He urged them not to be complacent because the party needed to be more organised for the 2011 presidential and parliamentary election.

And speaking earlier, Southern province MMD chairperson, Solomon Muzyamba appealed to government to provide more agriculture extension services in the province.

Mr. Muzyamba said agriculture extension services will help people of Southern province to grow more food and contribute to the nation’s food basket.

He has since assured Mr. Kunda that the party in the province and Livingstone has remained stable.

He is accompanied by the Tourism Minister Catherine Namugala and Commerce deputy Minister, Richard Taima.

The Vice President was welcomed at Livingstone International Airport by Mines Minister Maxwell Mwale, Southern Province Permanent Secretary, Darius Hakayobe and senior MMD party officials.

ZANIS/CM/KSH/ENDS

Kawambwa Tea Company (KTC)has acquired a K6 billion boost from a loan from the Zambia National Commercial Bank PLC for recapitalization and to settle outstanding debts the firm owes including various government institutions.

This brings a total of K 8 Billion the firm owes the local bank from the K 2 billion loan the Tea company had acquired from the bank.

The firm which had ceased its operations for about a year due to non remittance of dues towards debts, recently resumed operations following the cash injection from the bank.

This came to light during a fact finding tour of the company at its Kawambwa estate by State House Chief Analyst for Policy implementation and monitoring (PIM) Tobias Mulimbika.

He was accompanied by Kawambwa District Commissioner Wilbroad Mumba and other officials,during a tour of the company yesterday.

The Kumar Holdings owned Kawambwa Tea Company (KTC) owes Zanaco K2 billion in arrears from a loan earlier obtained from the bank to help settle its previous Africa Development Bank (ADB) debts.

Management at the factory which was at pains to explain why the firm had stalled operations for over a year and had outstanding salary arrears for its 800workers earning between K210, 000 and K 370,000 respectively, explained that owing to its debts, the firm had struggled to cope with operational costs.

They said the bank sent a team of experts to assess the company’s viability before approving the loan and were satisfied with its potential.

But when further queried whether tea had no market and was not profitable, management said produced commodity had readily available market and was sold through legal channels refuting claims that the firm was selling on the black market.

They said the recovery plan was the best alternative for the company to sustain operations given the previous lack of ploughing back of proceeds for recapitalization and operational costs.

“We have been legally conducting our business despite owing various organizations because in the case of exports to neighboring DRC we raised export documents through Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) which is legal documentation, so this is against allegations that we have been trading on the black market,” said one of the Zambian KTC factory management staff.

Management at the factory said following the resuscitation of operations the company had projected a recovery plan which included an operational cost of K3bn which would generate an estimated K8bn from its 412 cultivated hectares of tea targeted to produce 900,000tonnes of processed tea.

They said the tea had readily available market from the local and international markets, such as the DRC and Kenya’s Anjeli Tea Auction floors, where it used to fair very well.

Kawambwa Tea Company has an estate covering over 2000hactares which has never experienced expansion of the cultivated hacterage.

The firm also owed other firms such as ZESCO K127million,NAPSA K255million,ZRA K598Million and accrued terminal benefits of K560million to its employees.

However, management said the company had started settling the debts after negotiating with the various creditors on repayment plans.

They said the firm was paying ZESCO K25million per two weeks and recently paid the electricity firm a K30million bringing the balance to about K60million and had settled outstanding council levy dues it had with the Kawambwa Local Authority.

Management also revealed that the company was paying NAPSA K50million per month under the arrangement while it was also committed to also pay ZRA K50million on a monthly basis to offset the accrued tax dues.

They said workers at the factory had started receiving their regular salaries which were being paid together with one month’s accrued salary arrears from the 11months dues the company owed them.

“Workers have started receiving their dues and what is happening is that a months pay is being given at the same time with an accrued salary from arrears as a way of knocking of outstanding salaries at the company,” said the management staff.

They also said the company had procured fertilizers for enhancing the yield of tea and protection gear for some workers which was yet to be given to all the sections.

And addressing the management at the Factory Mr. Mulimbika said Government was concerned with the problems that the company has faced for a long timedespite its potential to be sustainable and vibrant.

ZANIS/DN/ENDS/MM

Expired and cheap liquor rescued from the dumping site has continued to be in circulation in Livingstone, posing a health risk to unsuspecting consumers.

Livingstone City Council Chief Health Inspector Paul Mukuka has observed that the recent disposal of expired liquor was scavenged from the dumping site and has found itself on the shelves.

The observation came after watching ZNBC news recently that revealed that council officials disposing of expired liquor earlier confiscated by the Zambia Revenue Authority from cross border traders.

Mr. Mukuka said there is need for proper destruction of all goods that need disposing of, to stop people from scavenging on the dumping site.

He bemoaned lack of cooperation from security wings such as the Zambia Police and the officers from the Office of the President to ensure the dumping site is sealed to allow proper destruction of condemned goods.

“There is need for partnership and concerted efforts from all security wings to ensure a successful raid and destruction of goods,” he said adding that council police is under staffed.

Expired beer was scavenged and from the dumping site and is back on shelves for customers.

ZANIS/MM/ENDS/MM

The Civil Society for Poverty Reduction, CSPR, says is concerned with the alleged misappropriation of public funds, mostly those meant for Poverty Reduction Programmes, PRPs.

CSPR Acting Executive Director, Saul Banda, expressed sadness by the weaknesses in the implementation of PRPs as cited in the 2007 Auditor General’s Report specifically in the Education and Health sectors, Public Welfare Assistance Scheme (PWAS), Street Kids Funds and Fertilizer Support Programme (FSP) among others.

Mr. Banda said in light of the announced 2009 budget, the increased allocations of funds to the social sector should be met by stern measures to ensure protection of such funds from abuse.

He has since called on government to seriously consider ring-fencing PRP funds in the national budget, saying the measure ould help ensure the utilisation of funds to the intended purpose.

Mr Banda told ZANIS in a statement that the CSPR is happy for the work of the of he Auditor Genera in highlighting the misappropriating public funds.

Mr. Banda, however, said the reports will only yield positive results if punitive measures are taken promptly on the erring officers, especially with regards to misappropriation of funds.

He said CSPR expects and challenges government as the primary duty bearers to the poor to take action as laws are already in place to deal with such acts of indiscipline.

He cited the 1,500 bags of fertilizer that was unaccounted for in Chipata valued at over K65 million and the untraced revenue from Kapiri Mposhi and Chipata amounting to over K90 million as some of the most disturbing cases.

“These are programs that directly benefit the vulnerable people, yet they seem to be treated with little care. It is sad that duty bearers charged with the responsibility of making the lives of the vulnerable better are actually taking advantage of the situation to enrich themselves,” he said.

He said the findings of the AG’s report solidify CSPR’s findings indicating that the implementation some PRP programmes have had insignificant impact on the economic and social livelihood of beneficiary communities.

ZANIS/PM/ENDS/SJK

Southern Province Permanent Secretary Darius Hakayobe says poor road infrastructure has hampered the effective marketing  of  the city’s tourism potential.

And Road Development Agency (RDA) engineer has attributed the delay in the completion of rehabilitation works on the 30 km Zimba-Livingstone Road to wet weather conditions.

Speaking yesterday when he inspected the progress on the road works on the Zimba-Livingstone Road, Mr. Hakayobe stressed that  poor road infrastructure has impeded progress in marketing both tourism and agricultural potential of the province and Livingstone in particular.

“Tourists want good road infrastructure and the delivery of agricultural inputs depend on good road network,” Mr. Hakayobe noted.

He commended government for allocating K99 billion towards the rehabilitation of the Zimba-Livingstone road in this year’s national budget.

Mr. Hakayobe who was impressed with the rehabilitation works so far urged the contractor to maintain quality works to ensure a  quality end product.

He observed that the Zimba-Livingstone Road is passable following the maintenance works  on the remaining 43km stretch that falls under phase two of the road rehabilitation project.

“The impassable road now is passable and I am very impressed with the temporal interventions on the other stretch,” he said and added that resources and material are available to finish the project.

The PS was accompanied by engineers from both Kazungula and Livingstone councils and their District Commissioners, RDA engineer, the city mayor and provincial planners among others.

RDA Regional Engineer Lazarous Nyawali said the rehabilitation works on the 30 km stretch that were supposed to be completed by May this year will delay owing to wet conditions.

Mr. Nyawali said heavy rains have slowed down works on the 30km stretch but added that the contractor has finished assembling the plant that will be used to produce important material for road works.

“The plant will be fully operational but road works are determined by the weather as they require a certain amount of moisture to ensure a quality end product,” he said.
ZANIS/MM/MKM/ENDS