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Govt to construct bridge joining Zambezi east and wet banks
Zambezi, August 31st , 2014 , ZANIS —– Government says it will soon start constructing a bridge on the Zambezi river to link the east and west bank in Zambezi district.
Vice president, Dr Guy Scott, said yesterday that the construction of the bridge will help link the Zambezi west bank to the rest of the district and open the area to sustainable development.
And Dr Scott has disclosed that government has no intentions to create Zambezi west into a new district.
Speaking when he graced this year’s Likumbi Lya Mize traditional ceremony, Dr Scott said building a bridge and improving the road network in the west bank was on the immediate cards.
He said the PF government is already completing the construction of the Kalabo-Mongu road, which has a total of 23 bridges while recently a new bridge linking Chongwe to Kafue was commissioned in Chiawa area.
“The PF is a bridge constructing government. We are completing the Kalabo-Mongu road which has 23 bridges. Recently we commissioned the bridge on to in Chiawa called the Michael Sata bridge, and the bridge on Zambezi river here will be the next,” he said.
He said in Zambezi west government, is using K50,000 constituency Development Funds (CDF) to maintain the Chinying suspended foot bridge which was not in good condition.
He said government is also constructing the first part of the Munyembe bridge on Kashiji river at a cost of K500,000.
And senior chief Ndungu said that his royal establishment is against the insinuations that Zambezi west should be created into a new district.
“The insinuations recommending of creating Zambezi west as a new district are ill conceived and we against them as a chiefdom,,” senior chief Ndungu said.
The traditional ruler instead appealed for the creation of a new central constituency on the west bank instead of a new district, saying the people in the area are interested in development and not to be separated from the rest of Zambezi district.
He said this in a speech read for him by Likumbi Lya Mize national chairman Max Mbunji , at the ceremony.
The traditional rural said increasing representation in parliament for Zambezi west is enough to address the current metropolitan setup of the district that has been disadvantaging Zambezi west.
The chief also appealed for safeguarding of the peace the country has continued to enjoy since independence, as it was key to the development of the national.
He said any small off shoot of tribalism and racism, which were rejected at independence, should not be allowed to take root in this generation but must be fought with vigor to maintain a unified country.
In response Dr Scott said government has no immediate intentions to create Zambezi west into a new district.
On development, the Vice President said the PF government under the leadership of President Sata has an ambitious agenda to develop the country into a prosperous nation.
“The intensified efforts to develop the country starting with improving the education and health sectors are aimed at closing the development gap between rural and urban areas,” he said.
Under agriculture, Dr Scott said government has spent K74,340 pay 32 farmers who supplied 16, 453 bags of maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) during the first week of the marketing season in Zambezi district while more farmers are to get their money soon.
He also said that a total of 6,699 x 50 Kg bags of compound D fertiliser had already been delivered to Zambezi west under the Farmers Input Support programme (FISP) for the 2014-2015 farming season.
Earlier, Dr Scott said traditional ceremonies are an important part of the country’s cultural aspects of the nation passed from generation to generation.
He said traditional ceremonies also enable people to fully participate in the culture heritage of the country instead of assimilating to outside influences that impact negatively on the country’s core values.
He said to this end government will continue to support traditional ceremonies as they complement its effort in preserving the country’s cultural heritage.
Others who in attendance at this year’s Likumbi Lya Mize ceremony were Agriculture minister Wilbur Simuusa, commerce and industry minister Emmanuel Chenda, and their counterparts for tourism and gender Jean Kapata and Inonge Wina, respectively.
North Western province minister Nathaniel Mubukwanu alongside his permanent secretary Amos Malupenga, deputy minister of health Chitalu Chilufya and agriculture permanent secretary David Shamulenge also attended the ceremony.
