By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –
THE Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) will disburse a total of US$8 million for the implementation of the Cassava Commercialisation Initiative.
CEEC director general Likando Mukumbuta said the commission would spend about $8 million to support the initiative this year.
Mr Mukumbuta said in an interview in Lusaka that the initiative once implemented would create about 16,000 employment opportunities for the local people.
“We are doing the Cassava Commercialisation Initiative and will be spending about US$8 million on this. We will be targeting Kasama, Mansa, Solwezi, Copperbelt,” he said.
Mr Mukumbuta said Lusaka, Copperbelt and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would be for market development.
He explained that the funds were part of the $30 million received from the African Development Bank (AfDB) earlier this year.
He said apart from cassava, the CEEC would spend about $20 million for the implementation of the industrial yards programmes.
Mr Mukumbuta said the Government had allocated about K187 million towards the implementation of the CEEC programmes in 2016 under the CEEC fund.
In line with Government’s Job Creation and Industrialisation Strategy, CEEC was providing business loans to targeted citizens and companies for the development of specific industries based on comparative advantage of the various provinces of Zambia.
