. Thole

By JACOB CHANDA –
LUANSHYA Municipal Council (LMC) has been commended for conducting an orderly process of interviewing applicants for residential and commercial plots.
Council public relations manager, Gideon Thole said the panelists comprised interviewers from the Anti-Corruption Commission(ACC), Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), Office of the President (OP), officials from Ministry of Lands, senior council officials, councillors and officials from the legal department.
“The response from the public was extremely overwhelming and we had to arrange the interviews in a manner which was transparent so that the land-seekers were given a fair platform to convince the panelists that they were capable of developing the land,’’ Mr Thole said.
Mr Thole said the council was aware that there were unscrupulous people who got land for re-sale to unsuspecting customers, hence the involvement of all Government agencies to avert the scourge.
Faith Fellowship International Ministries Bishop, Venassie Mibenge commended the council for the manner the whole process of interviews was conducted.
“If all councils in our country could conduct the interviews the way Luanshya Municipal Council arranged them, there would not be incessant cries we have experienced from our citizens,’’ Bishop Mibenge said.
Mr Thole said the local authority advertised 1,025 plots and categorised them as follows 344 low cost, 370 medium cost, 120 high cost, 51 commercial, three for churches and three plots for flats and that, all of them were in Roan Township (Makoma Valley).
On the other part of Luanshya in Mpatamatu area 130 plots were for low cost and four were located in the industrial area.
He appealed to those who would be picked as successful applicants to ensure they developed the land in the stipulated period.
Mr Thole indicated that demand for commercial plots was far less than that of residential plots, however, he encouraged those would-be developers to come forward and apply for land.
Mube Chushi who attended the interviews expressed happiness at the manner the council handled the process of acquiring land and urged management to continue with the same spirit of ensuring that interviews were conducted in an orderly manner.
The available plots were stiffly competed for by three applicants on one plot. Those who would not succeed were encouraged to re-apply in future.
Mr Thole emphasised that people who engage in land vending should desist from the practice because it disadvantaged other developers.
“As a local authority, we adhere to latest Government land procedures to empower genuine land developers,’’ he said.
Luanshya Municipal Council last year won the National Anti-Corruption Award in land management category and hoped to continue working hard.