Extravagance of last 7yrs has come to an end – HH
By Fanny Kalonda
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema says it is very important for Zambia to address its debt situation as it chocking the country.
Speaking after he toured the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station in Chikankata district on Thursday, President Hichilema expressed confidence that Zambia would sign a debt restructuring deal with creditors in a few days’ time.
He said the government would ensure all projects done are constructed at the right cost adding that Zambians were used to extravagance in the last seven years which has come to an end.
“So we are confident that in another few days, remember I sit at an advantage point, where I sit, I am confident on your behalf as your servant that we will reach agreement with creditors and move further our efforts to reconstruct this economy and build more power stations. It is so important to resolve the debt issue otherwise it is choking us. And we don’t want to return to that position ever again. Terrible mistake. But that’s what leadership does. Good leadership or bad leadership and the people of Zambia keep open going forward. I also want to thank China, Ambassador, please deliver the message for China’s support towards the debt resolution issue. The debt restructuring issue. We inherited a troubling debt 11 months ago. Billions of dollars wasted. But as a decent government, we are working to resolve that issue of debt so we can release revenue from debt servicing costs. We can drive that money to the economy, like this, to create more power. We can export into Congo, into Angola, into elsewhere. And the Chinese government is one of our lenders together with lenders from other parts of the world. Europe, elsewhere, came together at our request as the new dawn government to restructure that debt. To give us what we may call in finance as headroom for us to operate,” he said. “…and we are confident with the support of other lenders, China included, that we will have a resolution of that debt. Again when we were campaigning to be elected, we told the people of Zambia that we were going to look at the debt and restructure it so that we release revenues for development from consumption and expenditure. Thank you to China and other creditors in a few days’ time you will be delighted when you hear…”
And President Hichilema said the 750-megawatt hydropower plant is “another giant step in Zambia’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China. We now move into a high-quality partnership anchored on mutual respect, motivated by the delivery of social and economic results for our peoples.”
He also witnessed the signing of two memoranda of understanding between Zambia and People’s Republic of China that “open Zambia to export Soyabean meal and dried Stevia leaves. We thank the Peoples’ Republic of China for giving us access to such a significant market. We encourage our citizens to take advantage of these opportunities.”
President Hichilema said there was need for the country to explore green energy to preserve the environment.
He noted that Zambians endured to register and vote for change saying that change “is about to change lives” which can be done by such projects.
“We appreciate that Zesco you are doing community projects, alongside this hydropower station. That’s the way it is supposed to be so we can benefit the communities around. I hear you are drilling some boreholes. Going forward, we would like projects like this to have more local contractors, sub-contractors so that we can increase the contribution of such a project to the economy and more business,” he said. “Energy is critical to the development of the country. Last year in August under very difficult conditions, the people of Zambia endured every difficult you can imagine just to register as voters, and to go to vote. And when they voted, they voted for change. Change is about bettering your life and projects like these, energy like this is critical. Now for us to deliver on that mandate that you gave us as your servants, we need energy. Given the difficult climate change that the world is faced with, it is not debatable anymore, we have to focus on generating green energy, not brown energy, which is environmentally correct. And this hydropower station, starting from the whole basin, Itezhi-Tezhi, green energy, coming to Kafue Gorge Power Station, up there, 990 megawatts…”
President Hichilema said the Kafue river can generate about 1,800 megawatts.
He also called for reducing the cost of doing such projects.
He said Zambians were used to extravagance in the last seven years, “which has come to an end”.
“Going forward, we would like to ensure that we reduce the cost of capital which will be able to deliver…Resources are scarce, this government wants to make sure that we are not wasteful. So that we can bring in additional value, to grow the economy while creating more jobs and business opportunities. That’s what we will do going forward,” said President Hichilema. “We as a country can and should do more and work at a faster speed to reconstruct the economy, to rebuild this economy to better the lives of our people. I know Zambians got to extravagance in the previous government. Those days are gone. The new era is to do things correctly away from corruption. That is how we shall turnaround this economy and deliver the change that people voted for. Let’s work hard. Even the bible says ‘if you don’t work, you should not eat’. So I encourage the people of Zambia that let us work hard.”
Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Du Xiaohui thanked President Hichilema for supporting the construction of the project.
He said China supports the government’s road to economic transformation through construction of such projects.
Ambassador Du said once completed, the project would help the country becoming a net exporter of electricity adding that it is an investment for the country in case of an energy crisis.
Zesco managing director Victor Mapani said Zesco is committed to enhancing national development through the expansion of the electricity sub-sector with the 750MW Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower plant being one such expansion initiatives.
He said Zesco would endeavour to drive national development efficiently and effectively, so as to avail its customers an excellent service.
“The hydropower potential in the Kafue gorge, Mr President, is in excess of 1,500 megawatts. This potential has been developed in phases. The first being the 600 megawatts Kafue Gorge Power Station which was developed in 1973. The second being the addition of 300 megawatts at this same plant coupled with the construction of the Itezhi Tezhi dam as the main reservoir in 1977. The generators at Kafue Gorge Power Station were re-engineered in 2007, during the power rehabilitation project, to increase the capacity from 900 megawatts to 990 megawatts. The construction and commissioning of the 120 megawatts Itezhi Tezhi Power Plant in 2016…” said Mapani. “To date, Mr President, the lenders have disbursed US $949 million and Zesco has injected over $550 million into the project. At the time the lenders stopped disbursing funds, all the works were still in progress. Working with the EPC contractor, Sinohydro, Zesco has managed to complete and fill the reservoir and commission four of the generators. Mr President, Zesco would like to take this opportunity to thank Sinohydro who have stayed on and worked with Zesco in difficult times. Mr President, I am proud to inform you that the Kafue Gorge Lower Power Station is nearing completion with four units out of five now commissioned. Overall project progress stands at 96 per cent. We will soon be inviting you to commission the completed project by the end of this year.”