By KENNEDY MUPESENI –
A KITWE-based entrepreneur has urged Government to restrict exports of scrap metal to encourage value addition.
Potwa Enterprises Limited proprietor Freestone Sichula said Zambia would regret exporting scrap when the metal fabrication industry booms.
“We already have a crisis as metal fabricators in terms of access to raw materials since the Ndola smelter closed and we are seeing all the scrap being mopped up for exports, leaving the local industry with no raw materials,” Mr Sichula said.
He said this in an interview in Kitwe on Thursday.
Mr Sichula, a former Ndola Non-ferrous Metals Limited employee, said there was need for the Government and other stakeholders to support the growth of the metal fabrication industry.
He said with enough capital, he was able to manufacture engine blocks as well as gear boxes which he said required a lot of scrap.
Mr Sichula is currently running a furnace in Kitwe’s Mulenga Township, manufacturing charcoal-powered pressing irons and other metal products.
He said a robust metal fabrication at any level was needed for Zambia to continue with the current economic trajectory.
Mr Sichula urged banks and other financial institutions to open up and fund innovations like what was prevailing in other countries.
“Our banks do not look at innovative ideas as viable and bankable projects, but they would rather concentrate on funding retailing which might be riskier than funding an industry,” he said.
Mr Sichula urged the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) to prioritise small industries like metal fabrication.
“I have been to Ndola CEEC offices many times and told that the focus area on the Copperbelt is agriculture, which is unfortunate because our industry depends on funding to expand production and contribute significantly to the economic development of the country,” he said.