MUKWIMA CHILALA writes
LUSAKA City Council is working on upgrading peri-urban areas, Mayor Miles Sampa has said.
Mr Sampa said the areas that the council would target for the upgrading were Chawama, Kalingalinga, Kanyama and Mtendere.
The council wants the peri-urban areas to have standard houses.
“All we want is to ensure that the peri-urban areas have those good stories. Our aim is to ensure that the areas have houses five times higher than those in Kabwata area,” Mr Sampa said.
He said the council was engaging various stakeholders to ensure that the plan was implemented.
Mr Sampa said during his tenure he wanted to ensure that the peri-urban areas were upgraded to middle class.
“We don’t have land to build houses so that the city can become like Johannesburg. But we thought that something can be done, so we decided to upgrade these areas so that we uplift the standard of living,” Mr Sampa said.
He, however, said the council was also looking forward to reducing solid waste in the central business district (CBD) and the city at large.
Mr Sampa said the council was sourcing funds to buy equipment that would be used to ensure that there was sanity in the city.
“We are not sitting idle as a council. There are a lot of heaps of garbage especially in the CBD and other surrounding areas. But these cannot be done using hands. Currently, we are sourcing funds to buy equipment like loaders and compacters so that there is cleanness in the city,” Mr Sampa said.
He said the council wanted to ensure each constituency had three pieces of equipment if possible.
Meanwhile, Mr Sampa says the council will embark on tree planting to ensure the CBD is green, clean and healthy.
He said the Lusaka City Council would get rid of old trees because they are not adding any value in the CBD.
Mr Sampa said planting new ones would bring change.
He, however, said the council wanted to ensure there was proper management of trading areas and get rid of street vending in the CBD.