NDOLA – LUSAKA DUAL CARRIAGEWAY TO GO UPTO LIVINGSTONE
The Ndola – Lusaka dual carriageway will now be extended to the country’s tourist capital, Livingstone, reports Asa Manda for Zambian Eye.
Infrastructure and Urbana Development Minister Charles Milupi has disclosed saying the UPND New Dawn Administration is in hurry to link up the country to it’s neighbors for trade.
The project will however be done on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. He has disclosed this today following a meeting held in the week with a delegation from the South West Chinese Business Association of Zambia led by their president, Xu Zongping.
Milupi in a statement below obtained by Zambian Eye said:
We are grateful that a few days ago, a delegation from the South West Chinese Business Association of Zambia led by their president, Xu Zongping, paid a courtesy call on us at Infrastructure House in Lusaka, and among the issues discussed is the government’s PPP financing model in the development of strategic public infrastructure.
In our engagement, we indicated that the New Dawn government is in a hurry to develop this country, and that on the infrastructure front, we want to open up roads that link Zambia to her neighbours so that we foster trade among our people.
For example, we are excited that paperwork for the construction of a dual carriageway between Lusaka and Ndola is already underway. But now what we want is to extend this dual carriageway from
Lusaka to Livingstone. So, the Lusaka-Livingstone Dual Carriageway Project is on the cards.
We further indicated that your government is anxious to improve connectivity by opening up strategic roads that link Zambia with her neighbours, such as the Solwezi- Kipushi border road in the North-Western Province, which links Zambia with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We also want to link the Eastern Province with Mozambique by reconstructing the Katete- Chanida border road. The Zambia- Angola is also another project that we are looking at as we do not have a road that links Zambia and Angola.
However, we notified the Chinese delegation, that for us to achieve these objectives and ensure the desired outcomes, your government needs partners who will be able to embark on infrastructure projects through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. This is because currently your government has limited funds to channel towards the construction of infrastructure but is anxious to deliver various projects through the PPP financing model.
On her part, Ms. Xu informed us that her association, which is a conglomerate of various companies, is excited with the New Dawn’s development agenda.
She said some Chinese companies have been in Zambia for over 20 years and want to contribute to the development of Zambia by partnering with the government and put up adequate infrastructure.
Ms. Xu said one of the Chinese companies will soon submit a proposal to construct the Solwezi – Kipushi Border road through the PPP model.