•President Edgar Lungu thanks Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming at groundbraeking ceremony of the New Ndola International airport

By MARTIN NYIRENDA
THE unprecedented infrastructure expansion taking place on the Copperbelt squarely sits well with the matrix of securing the process of national development.
The projects, currently being undertaken by Government on the Copperbelt, are breeding shared skills transfer, mostly required for socio-economic growth, as well as improving productivity and quality of lives on a large scale.
Setting up of large cement plants magnifies the symptom of self-assurance in the economy as the initiatives continue to give economic impetus for sustained national growth.
Out of this, the unveiling of the foundation stone and ground breaking of the new ZCCM Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) cement plant on the Copperbelt is timely.
The better reasons of such initiatives are multiple faceted because the project, which is expected to gobble a staggering US$548 million, is a joint venture between
ZCCM-IH and China Machinery Industry Construction Group (Sinoconst), which will set up Central Africa Cement in Masaiti.
When completed, Central Africa Cement will be the biggest cement manufacturing company in Zambia.
ZCCM-IH Chief Executive Officer Pius Kasolo says the cement project was in line with the organization’s mandate of constituting and creating value for its shareholders and jobs for the Zambian people.
Not too long ago, Dangote Group commissioned its cement plant in Masaiti District.
The plant has the capacity of 1.5 million metric tonnes of cement per year.
The US$400 million plant is supported by a 30 megawatt (MW) coal plant for its power needs.
The plant was inaugurated in August two years ago at a ceremony where Dangote Group president Aliko Dangote revealed that the Zambian cement plant was the sixth out of his 14 cement plants in Africa which are currently operational.
As an alluring socio-economic undertaking, the Masaiti cement plant project was billed to create 4,000 jobs when fully operational.
During construction, about 1,000 jobs will be created.
The establishment of more cement plants has helped foster reduced and affordable prices of cement as well as quality service delivery.
The ZCCM-IH and its Chinese partner is working with local and international financial institutions on project financing.
The project is expected to take at least three years and will have a daily production capacity of 5,000 metric tonnes of cement.
The plant will be powered by double 20 MW coal fired thermal power plants that will power the facility.
It will sell the surplus power to Zesco.
Once fully operational, the cement project will stir remarkable benefits, including an array of cement choices, growth in the construction industry, value addition to the mineral resource, technology transfer and creation of sustainable job opportunities.
“This is what we want to see,” President Lungu said.
In the words of Mr Lungu, Zambia needs job creation opportunities and prosperity.
“When investors decide to put down more than half a billion dollars in a single project like this, that is not when you say Zambia does not have investor confidence,” he said.
President Lungu articulates that construction, rehabilitation and upgrading of the country’s infrastructure lies at the core of the Patriotic Front (PF) government’s development agenda.
To President Lungu, the new cement plant, more importantly, will further contribute to poverty reduction through job creation for the local people.
For this, the Government is striving to ensure that the project is established has the stamina of creating wealth and jobs for ordinary Zambians.
The US$14.5 million copper cable manufacturing firm recently commissioned in Masaiti District gives way for private players in the economy to venture into value addition of secondary mineral resources in the wake of the fact that although the country has abundant minerals, it has limited means of adding value to the minerals like copper.
Neelkanth Cables Limited, a subsidiary of the Neelkanth Group of Companies, is a highly diversified Indian conglomerate with a production capacity of 720 tonnes per month.
It manufactures assorted copper cables ranging from domestic to industrial use.
The Neelkanth Group investment has so far reached US$100 million.
It has created 3,000 jobs for the local people.
Neelkanth Group Chairperson Subhash Patel said the cable manufacturing company was currently on 40 per cent production.
It has so far employed 200 people.
Such is also expected to reduce the cost of doing business among transporters and the completion of the project will fire-up accelerated national development.
Senior Chief Chiwala of Masaiti District tells me that Zambia Metal Fabrication (ZAMEFA) has been the only copper cable manufacturing company in the district which had provided employment opportunities for the local population.
“The majority of people to be employed are locals, except for a few expatriates of Indian origin. This is added value to employment creation.
“ZAMEFA was not able to meet the local demand of cable requirements hence most of the products were imported mostly from China and the Middle East at great cost,” he said.
He said once commissioned, the new cable making plants will reduce the importation of the cables.
The traditional leader said the new cement plant will result in more construction of houses and reduced transportation costs.
He said plans were underway to engage companies operating in his chiefdom, with the help of locals, to reconstruct the Chiwala Main Road which leads to industries in the area.
He said the road will improve the movement of goods and services to and from the chiefdom.
Ndola Chamber of Commerce spokesperson Paul Chisunka knows only too well that the infrastructure developments in the province are simply a welcome economic images, contending that they have a far-reaching positive implications for Ndola and, in particular, the people of Masaiti District.
“We are proud that the cable plant is being run by one of our members in Neelkhant. The benefits of the projects to the immediate recipients are critical to creating a working class and they will spill over to their families,” he said.
He said the benefits will create a sense of value in the communities where the projects are being undertaken.
He points out that the projects will enhance economic output and add to Zambia’s Gross Domestic product (GDP), further expressing hope that the market base of the products will increase Government revenue.
The projects illustrate that the country is a preferred investment destination and that the Government should be saluted for staying on course in spearheading the agenda to foster development.
The investment in infrastructure development is a catalyst for local people to invest more in various industries and invariably support the Seventh National Development Plan (7SNDP).
The reconstruction of the Ndola/Mufulira Road, which is a long awaited project, is an essential economic addition to infrastructure growth — yet another milestone project to ease movement of goods and people, if completed, also considering the upcoming of construction of the new international airport in Ndola.
The Ndola-Mufulira Road, once fully re-built, will add economic impetus to the district’s development activities and other surrounding districts.
It will also enhance movement of travellers using the new international airport in Ndola.
Morgan Bwembya, a peasant farmer of Phima 1 Settlement, located along Mufulira Road, hoped that the people along the road would be given priority to be engaged in the reconstruction of the road.
Charles Mulopwe shared Mr Bwembya’s sentiments, saying local people should be given priority to be employed during the reconstruction phase of the road.
He said the forthcoming jobs should not be hijacked by people from outside the settlement.
Mateo Mujale, a resident of Fyaya Fyaya village in Senior Chief Chiwala’s chiefdom, saluted the traditional leadership in the district for embracing economic projects and creating an enabling environment for investment.
Another parent, Patson Mambwe, aged 49, a father of four children, from Belumu village in the same chiefdom, praises Senior Chief Chiwala for being instrumental in attracting foreign investment in the chiefdom and prayed that the locals will benefit the economic value of the industries in the chiefdom.
Other stakeholders are calling for measures to ensure local communities benefit from the projects.
In all, the infrastructure development currently underway on the Copperbelt will, no doubt, accelerate improved socio-economic within and beyond the province.