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The Zambia Environmental Management Authority – ZEMA has confirmed that an environmental impact assessment was conducted on the construction project of the US$100 million Radisson Blu Mosi-oa-tunya resort in Livingstone and that the project was approved by the authority.

National Pension Scheme Authority – NAPSA had last week unveiled the commencement of the construction of the US$100 million landmark investments in Zambia’s tourism capital of Livingstone.

However, concerns were raised by some environmentalists, Livingstone based lodge owners and other interest groups to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT indicating that part of the land offered for the construction of the hotel is within the “elephants corridor”. It is feared that this resort may lead to the elephants abandoning the route and thereby their visibility and attraction to Livingstone, which is Zambia’s tourism capital.

But ZEMA Corporate Affairs Manager Irene Lungu-Chipili told ZBT in an exclusive interview on July 9, 2020, that an assessment was conducted, the relevant reviews done and approved subject to NAPSA’s sufficient mitigation measures throughout the project development and subsequent operations of the hotel and resort.

She said a public hearing was also conducted within the area and ZEMA will continue to check on compliance levels on the environment and that the developer has demonstrated mitigation measures to allow the natural environment to continue amidst the operations of the hotel and resort.

“ZEMA’s role throughout this process is to check out how the project will run and ensure that NAPSA is adhering and is complaint to all the environmental concerns and mitigating measures agreed as part of the approval process. The environmental screening of the project has been done by ZEMA and the project was approved by ZEMA as well, which means that necessary consultations including getting input from national game park experts and the communities around was included,” She added.

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The Zambia Environmental Management Authority – ZEMA

Lifestyle

The failure by the ministry of lands to deliver on pledges, pronouncements and targets set for the National Land Titling Program – NLTP continue to haunt government. In the 2018 national budget, government announced a target of issuing 300,000 title deeds, a target which has still not been met to date.

As if to add salt to injury, Lands minister Jean Kapata on 5 July 2020 announced on national television that her ministry would deliver 5 million titles in one year, between July 2020 and July 2021. She informed the nation that the will soon announce the engagement of a private company to facilitate the process and that her ministry has equipment that can print thousands of title deed in a matter of hours.

However when the Zambian Business Times – ZBT contacted the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources Ndashe Yumba, it was disclosed that the ministry is still at the negotiations stage with a private partner organization that would be engaged to facilitate the delivery 5 million title deeds in one year.

Yumba told the ZBT in an exclusive interview on July 9, 2020, that negotiations on identifying a possible partner are ongoing and that the capacity to roll out this programme will soon be communicated.

“We are still in negotiations and when you are on a negotiation table you don’t discuss anything otherwise one will be preempting the procurement process, therefore when the issue is discharged you will be informed,” He said without giving away any timelines.

And in a separate and related exclusive interview, Zambia Land Alliance Executive Director Patrick Musole has raised concerns over the delayed process of validating the land policy despite having made their submissions.

Musole said the ministry circulated a draft which needed to be reviewed and validated by stakeholders but that there has been silence from government since submissions where made in May this year, hence the Alliance was hoping that the issue will soon be attended to.

He disclosed that in the submissions made by the alliance, it has advocated for customary land certificate to be retained for the interest of security of tenure under customary land which is insecure and continues to lead to indigenes displacements.

He added that the alliance has also made a submission to strengthen women land rights to ensure women are given land in their own names as opposed to the previous way of having land in the names of their husbands and other family members.

One of the key ways to secure land in Zambia is through the amendment and updating of the lands act, the process that continues to be delayed. But the worry by concerned citizens is that even as the amendments continue to be derailed, land is being given away to foreign entities and individuals while citizens continue to be displaced especially in rural areas.

Land titling has key economic benefits for the country and its citizens as it would release value for landowners to use as collateral to source for funding from lenders. For the government, any sell of titled land attracts property transfer tax – PPT revenue and well as provide a base for effective collection of land and property rates for local authorities.

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The failure by the ministry of lands

Agribusiness

Roland Imperial Tobacco Company – RITCO is set to add depth to Zambia’s tobacco industry and become the first Zambian company to set up a Cutrag processing plant.

The cutrag processing plant is part of its combined investment being put into its new end to end ciggerate manufacturing plant located in the Lusaka South Multi facility economic Zone – LS-MFEZ at a total cost of US$50 million,

Currently, locally produced and semi processed tobacco is first exported to Zimbabwe to undergo the blending process which requires a cutrag processing plant and then re-imported back into Zambia before it can finally be processed into cigerate sticks ready for the market.

RITCO was set up with the purpose of manufacturing, trading and selling cigarettes and other tobacco related products. The company runs an existing cigarette manufacturing plant in Lusaka’s Makeni area which was established in 2013 at a cost of about US$8 million. The company had further invested US$30 million for the expansion of this existing plant.

Speaking in an exclusive interview, RITCO General Manager Alipot Ngoma told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the company is at present able to offer two blends or two varieties of cigarettes and has a market share of about 30% to 40%, while other players share the remaining percentages.

He disclosed that RITCO has the capacity to produce 7 billion sticks per annum while other companies can only go up to 2 billion sticks, an indication that it has the biggest investment and manufacturing capacity on the Zambian market.

Ngoma however stated that the company has recently cut down its production by about 15% due to the depreciation of the Zambian currency which generally dampens demand and competition from other players on the market.

When asked what the major challenges are for the tobacco industry, Ngoma told ZBT that the limited buyers on the market continues to be a challenge affecting profitability and marketing options for tobacco farmers and local manufactures.

He further pointed out the the other major challenge is that about 30% of the Zambian market is being taken by illicit and smuggled tobacco products, which are not taxed and lead to loss of revenue by tax authorities and government.

“Zambia is not major tobacco smoking country and this coupled with limited local buyers on the market especially that our products are only being sold on the local market makes some of the key challenges we encounter”.

“Aside this, the market has been overtaken by illicit imported tobacco products. We are therefore appealing to the government to consider banning the importation of inferior cigarettes or provide the local manufacturers with incentives to promote local production and enhance participation from the private sector,” He said.

He added that there is also need to encourage investment in tobacco processing and invest in tobacco growers saying the country needs to focus and invest in other cash crops like tobacco and cotton to avoid the having too much dependence on our traditional Copper.

The company also told ZBT that it is exploring other foreign markets and plans to start exporting tobacco to both the regional and international market. The company has already engaged some distributors in South Africa and is looking forward to start exporting value added tobacco products.

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Roland Imperial Tobacco Company - RITCO is

Agribusiness

Government is not aware of the challenges that Sunbird is having in terms of bringing in equipment and experts from China to complete the ethanol plant construction.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Luapula province Investments Coordinator, Joseph Maopu stated that the provincial government team has not received any letter from SUNBIRD concerning the challenges they face to bring the equipment needed for the Bio refinery.

I can confirm to you that Sunbird has not written to us to tell us they are facing challenges to move equipment from China or wherever they are buying it from into kawambwa

In addition, Maopu says he engage to Sunbird Director for Agriculture and find out the challenges they are facing. He reiterated that that the provincial administration holds investors in high regards and they have robust team to quickly attend to any challenges that they may face.

“I will engage Sunbird and ask them to send a letter regarding this because I don’t have the letter on my desk. The provincial administration in Luapula when it comes to investment, has put in a robust response and action oriented team and mechanism to ensure that there is no investment frustration going on. If it is something within the reach of Government, then we can help them engage with China to facilitate the timely delivery of the pending equipment to Zambia”, he said.

Furthermore he stated that the out-grower scheme is progressing well as council acquired land from the Chiefs and through cooperatives, the local community has already been organized. The farmers haven’t yet started cultivating at large scale because they are just at their formative stages and getting sidelines.

“The process of allocating commercial farm blocks plots started with the council last year. After land was acquired from the local chiefs, it was surveyed, demarcated and then did an advert to invite interested local farmers. And when the president came to launch the out grower scheme, the local communities where already organized through cooperatives at village level” Maopu told ZBT.

Sunbird is scheduled to construct a landmark ethanol plant that will contribute to biofuel production in Zambia. The biofuel is expected to cut about US$100million in imports for fuel annually once blending is successfully done.

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Government is not aware of the challenges

Lifestyle

The University of Zambia (UNZA) has constituted a team of experts that include Medicinal Chemists, Drug Discovery Scientists, Virologists, Botanists, Pharmacologists and Pathologists to help in the discovery of home-grown low cost cures for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The consortium of experts will be exploring Zambian traditional medicines/plants and clinically-established drugs in the Zambian Formulary as potential treatments for COVID-19.

The team comprises Dr James Nyirenda (the lead investigator), Dr Peter Mubanga Cheuka, Dr Edgar Simulundu, Dr Angela Gono-Bwalya, Dr Takondwa Chidumayo, Dr Katendi Changula, Dr Caroline Chisenga, Dr Wezi Kachinda and Mr Kelly Chisanga.

According to a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by UNZA Head of Communications Brenda Bukowa on July 15, 2020, the team’s core mandate is twofold; firstly, to discover and develop medicines that are readily available for the local population and secondly, to discover and develop local medicines optimized for effectiveness and safety on an African or local population.

Meanwhile, the consortium of experts has since received funding from the Ministry of Higher Education through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). The funding received will be used to kickstart the project.

And University of Zambia (UNZA) Acting Vice Chancellor Dr. Tamala Kambikambi has paid glowing tribute to the consortium of researchers championing the discovery and development of the anti-COVID 19 pandemic drug. Dr. Kambikambi says UNZA’s research undertaking will solve the problems exacerbated by the unavailability of medicines discovered and developed elsewhere on the African continent. She adds that Zambia has lagged behind in the area of drug discovery and development since independence hence the urgent need for UNZA to take a lead.

The Acting VC has also expressed gratitude to the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) through the Ministry of Higher Education for the funds received to kickstart the project.

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The University of Zambia (UNZA) has constituted

Sport

The challenges to sport caused by the covid 19 pandemic has led to motor sports enthusiasts organizing an e-rally to keep their sport alive and find alternative ways to continue living their lives in the new normal.

In a statement made available to Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Zambia Motor Sports Association (ZMSA) president Sam Chingambu has disclosed that Zambia has participated in the 16 July, e-SAFARI RALLY.

And one of contestant from Zambia Muaaz Essa managed to come 23rd in a race that had participants from all over the world.

“Literally the whole world had entered the competition and we have two participants in the competition. The country that is organizing is Kenya since the safari is cancelled, they have decided to go E- racing”

In addition, Chingambu says that the two Zambian participants had been training and are ready to compete in this race.

These are the two who feel they are ready and can participate at that level according to the schedule that is given and hopefully win. That Championship”, he said. It means an individual has participated in digital or PlayStation”, he said.

Furthermore, he said e-racing is similar to playing a video game or a simulator that is used to train pilots. Using a unique software, one can race using a PlayStation, Xbox or PC.

You can participate in a PlayStation just like a normal video game, there are those who have got that platform.

However, he stressed that these kind of PlayStations are very expensive and they are in talks with Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), to assist them land more machines at better price points for motor sports enthusiasts.

“The two participants don’t have their own PlayStation because the PlayStation is quite expensive as well. And this is where we are now trying to see if FRA can help us because e need to buy these PlayStations”, he said.

Chingambu says that FIA is assisting the association in funding, finding of equipment or acquiring this required software. He further reiterated that this will be a serious venture and they are not doing it for fun.

“The first thing is to try and see how we can set it up locally amongst ourselves, covering all the 10 provinces or start with regions that can work. If it can, then yes, there are other platforms where now you can compete with other countries to make it more exciting and challenging”.

“In terms of funding, FIA has also come on board. They are trying to see how best they can help us acquire this equipment and software to make sure that we are competitive and registered under FIA. It’s not something that we are going to do for fun it has to be competitive”, he said.

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The challenges to sport caused by the

Tech

The use of the Universal Access and Services Fund – UASF by the Zambia Information Communication Authority – ZICTA has been questioned following the delayed completion of rural communications towers project and skewed eligibility criteria that has made it difficult for the intended rural schools to access the funds.

ZICTA has been challenged to aggressively drive the delayed completion of communication towers project and mobile network quality in rural areas as well as channel more resources to learning institutions and rural based schools that dearly need the support.

ZICTA corporate communications manager Ngabo Nankonde told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the fund is financed through contributions of 1.5 percent of gross annual turnover collected from all licensed mobile network operators.

A check in the 2018 financial report shows that the fund received about K70 million (about US$4 million in one year). This fund collections is expected to increase annually as the Telecoms industry continues to expand.

“Contributions to the Fund are made by operators licensed under the information communication Technologies Act which states that a licensee shall contribute, in accordance with section 70 the ICT Act, at the rate not exceeding 1.5 percent of gross annual turnover collected by the Authority under the licensing regulations”, she said.

ZICTA has put place stringent eligibility criteria for learning institutions to access funding which leads to most rural based schools and colleges failing to qualify for support. This process and eligibility criteria is in itself defeating the purpose of the fund which even by its name is for “universal access”.

ZICTA has embarked on then Last Mile Connectivity to Zambia Research and Education Network (ZAMREN) Member Institutions. The project is being implemented in partnership with ZAMREN and it focused on the provision of internet connectivity to education and research institutions through fibre connectivity.

The other key project is the connection of learning institutions. ZICTA has embarked on this project targetted to supply computers to Government schools and tertiary institutions. As such, based on a strigent eligibility criteria, a number of school were selected as beneficiaries of computers meant to strenghten provision of information technology in schools.

Nankonde told ZBT that the Universal Access Regulations provide guidance on how universal access funds may be invested. In particular, Regulation 19 allows the Fund to invest in any interest bearing accounts of any bank or institution.

The fund can also invest in stocks, securities or funds issued by, or on behalf of, the Government or in stocks, securities or funds guaranteed by the Government or in such other investments as may be approved by the Authority.

When it comes to utilization, ZICTA confirmed that the Fund uses the guiding principles outlined in the ICT Act and Regulation 4 of the Universal Access Regulation which states that the promotion of universal access shall ensure the provision of the service to unserved and underserved area meets the requirements of affordability, accessibility, availability, sustainability and quality of service.

The fund can also be utilized to encourage initiatives to extend, upgrade and expand the capacity and roll out of existing infrastructure in specific areas to unserved or underserved areas, including initiatives by local communities.

The ZICTA communications Manager confirmed that In addition, she said that the USAF is audited and the current auditors are  Office of the Auditor General and MPH Chartered Accountants and published for public to review.

On the delayed completion of the Construction of communication towers under Phase II which has continued the raising of the mobile network coverage across the country to about 92%m ZICTA told ZBT that this project is being handled and implemented by ZAMTEL.

The “attainment of 92% population coverage with mobile network is tied to completion of the Government’s 1,009 telecommunication Towers Project which is being managed by ZAMTEL”, she said. Zamtel which recently had its operations for towers hived off to set up an independent company called Infratel has been engaged to advise the completion date.

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The use of the Universal Access and

Lifestyle

The Road Development Agency – RDA has disclosed that works on 31 selected and re-scoped road projects have resumed and are expected to be completed within the period of 18 months.

Housing and Infrastructure Minister Vincent Mwale recently announced that government has reduced the allocation of funding for 31 road projects across the country from K16 billion to K9.5 billion due to challenges of funding.

RDA Corporate Communications Manager Masuzyo Ndhlovu disclosed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that the road project’s restructuring involved re-scoping from upgrading to bituminous standards to construction of all-weather gravel standard roads.

He said among the roads to be re-scoped include Petauke and Chilingozi  road which is divided into two lots of 118Km stretch and 132 Km reaching as far as Mambwe. Ndhlovu added that other roads to be worked on include those from Chipata to Chadiza and those heading to Vubwi in Eastern Province.

Ndhlovu said the 31 road projects which span across the 10 provinces of Zambia have already undergone down scaling through contract re-negotiations and variation. “Most of the works on these roads were stalled but now, they have started and these will be all weather gravel roads,” He said.

On the progress of road tolling program which is now a key financing option for future road construction and maintenance, the RDA communications Head disclosed to ZBT that the Musokotwane toll plaza as you enter or exit Livingstone is at 90 percent completion state and only remaining with fitting of equipment and booths, hence once this is installed the project is scheduled to be in operational within this year.

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The Road Development Agency - RDA has

Agribusiness

Tobacco Board of Zambia – TBZ has invested in a farmer electronic registration and monitoring system called the “Bright Leaf System” aimed at enhancing its regulatory role in the production, buying and selling of tobacco in the country.

TBZ disclosed that tobacco being a regulated crop needs a sophisticated system to facilitate and tracking of production, processing, manufacturing and export of the crop. Zambia currently exports over 90% of all the tobacco produced locally, making the crop a viable alternative for increasing forex earnings.

Zambia has experienced challenges were some farmers involve themselves in what is called vending and site selling which has frustrated the full growth potential of the tobacco outgrower farming model. Some farmers whose inputs where sponsored by particular buyers or out-growers with an ultimate goal of selling back to them end up selling the commodity to other buyers and in return, disadvantages the sponsors.

TBZ Chief Executive Officer – CEO James Kasongo told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that site selling and vending has since pushed buyers to limiting their investments in the outgrower model.

To address this challenge, TBZ has invested in the development of an electronic system that would facilitate registration of sellers (mostly farmers) and buyers, tracking of outgrower contracts through inputs distribution and reciprocal deliverly of the crop and eventual marketing and sales through the official tobacco sales floors.

He added that the farmer registration system which came into effect this year 2020 is also meant to capture every tobacco farmer in the country, issue membership cards to be used to both capture farmer activity and be used as a basis to grant access to official trading floors, which would eventually weed out those involved in site selling and vending.

“We came up with the idea of creating a system to facilitate the registration of farmers and outgrower as well as regulating the buying and selling system of tobacco. If the industry is left uncontrolled, most buyers who first have to invest in outgrower schemes will not have interest of staying in such a business environment as their investment is not protected”.

Hence, as TBZ, we needed to arrive at a win win situation for both the tobacco buyers and the tobacco seller (mostly local farmers) on outgrower Schemes or contracts. So given that the industry already has limited buyers of tobacco, we came up with this system that takes from the best practices in the region such as South Africa, Zimbabwe and Malawi who are big tobacco producers, He said.

Kasongo further told ZBT that the board was previously registering farmers manually which was difficult and tedious when it came to tracing farmers, but that the new system makes it much easier to trace farmers, their farm locations with information being available at the finger tips. In addition, the system is able to show the trading and sales flow and keeps a record on quality of tobacco grown by a specific farmer.

TBZ further disclosed that the bright leaf system is also meant protect sponsors or uptakes who invest in outgrower farmers then end up losing out when the tobacco is being vended out despite the farmer signing outgrower contracts and receiving inputs. This system also has global positioning system – GPS and is being loaded with details for both sponsored and self-sponsored farmers.

TBZ is now able to monitor who sponsors who, as well as have an updated electronic tobacco farmer register which is vital for tracking production and industry dynamics, He added. This system together with the updating of the regulation is expected to dramatically change the tobacco landscape in Zambia and move the country to produce competitive volumes and export earnings from this crop, Kasongo said.

Tobacco in Zambia is currently being produced in six regions and has 5 official sales floors across the country. Lusaka Province has two (2) sales floors or points, Eastern Province has two (2) while Western Province has one (1).

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Tobacco Board of Zambia – TBZ has

Companies

The National Water Supply and Sanitation Council – NWASCO has disclosed that only 452,000 households are connected to piped water, trailing the electricity utility ZESCO which surpassed 1 million household customers last year 2019.

NWASCO Public Relations and Communications Manager Patricia Litiya told the the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that a total number of 452,279 households are connected to piped water across the country as of end of 2019 and this is from 11 water and sanitation companies.

Water utility companies have been challenged to be more agile and provide water piped solutions to meet the need of over an estimated 5 million households in Zambia. The lack of innovation and aggressiveness in water utilities has led to the proliferation of borehole drilling companies which charges over K15,000 for one borehole.

It has been argued that if Zambian households can afford to hire these borehole drilling companies at such price points (over K15,000 per borehole), the same amounts could have been utilized by the water utilities to pay for infrastructure and equipment on a self financing model to provide piped water, as the case with electricity provision.

And on the applications made by the water and sanitation companies to hike water tariffs, Litiya stated that NWASCO is still reviewing the proposal and no decision has been reached yet.

The council has indicated that it is cautious of the current environment as a result of the COVID pandemic which demands a lot more water usage, hence the public will be informed once the decision on the proposed increase in tariffs is effected.

Water and Sanitation companies are mandated to propose for an increase in water tariffs annually and the council has indicated that it’s still reviewing this year’s applications considering the current situation of the Covid -19 outbreak.

She said it should be noted that consideration for tariff increases are primarily the operation and maintenance costs and that in some utility companies that are able to meet their operation and maintenance costs, investment costs are considered but to a limited extent.

Litiya added that there are various infrastructure projects being undertaken across the country by government with support from Financiers and cooperating partner, and that NWASCO is available as the regulator to support investments by water and sanitation companies who undertake their projects under the umbrella of the Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental protection.

“NWASCO therefore remains committed to ensure that Water and Sanitation companies continue to offer safe and affordable water to consumers through the formulation of regulation. This is done through the development of guidelines in line with changing trends in service delivery of water supply and sanitation. NWASCO has since developed over fifteen guidelines all aimed at enhancing regulation,” She said.

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The National Water Supply and Sanitation Council