By KENNEDY MUPESENI –
A KITWE-based medium scale enterprise Sammaci Investments Limited has urged Zesco to prioritise commercial customers for new power connections as a way of boosting the economy.
Sammaci Investment manufactures and supplies construction materials such as building blocks, stones and cement, among other products.
Company operations director Ireen Bwembya said that Zesco was taking long to process papers for commercial connections which she said had the capacity to affect the economy.
“We applied and paid for electricity connections last year in August, but up to now they have not connected our block making plant. We have three-phase machines which cannot run using generator sets because it is costly,” she said.
Ms Bwembya said in an interview in Kitwe yesterday that growth of any economy was determined by the number of viable businesses operating in the economy, be them small or large.
She said despite the dismal performance of the economy due to the happenings in the global commodity market, the construction industry would continue performing well.
She urged the Government to implement policy pronouncements on restricting foreign investments in certain industries to protect local small and medium enterprises.
“The construction industry will continue booming, hence the need for Government to implement policy pronouncements on allocating certain economic activities to locals only,” Ms Bwembya said.
Sammaci Investment recently clinched a franchise deal with Lafarge to start supplying building materials.