SIMON MUNTEMBA writes
SAMFYA is one of the four districts to benefit from about K7 billion from the African Development Bank (ADB) earmarked for the overhaul of the water reticulation system in Luapula Province, council chairperson Francis Musunga has said.
And the Local Government Association of Zambia (LGAZ), in collaboration with Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF), and the Ministry of Local Government have expressed interest in implementing the development projects in the resort district.
Since successfully hosting the inaugural Luapula investment exposition in 2017 Samfya has been receiving steady flow of investment in various economic sectors with tourism taking the lion’s share.
This is contained in a statement issued to the Sun by Samfya town council public relations officer Gwendolyn Mwanza Mchenga.
Mr Musunga announced the sourcing of the funding during the ordinary council meeting held at Samfya Civic Centre last Friday.
“About K7 billion had been sourced from African Development Bank to overhaul the water system meant to improve the water reticulation in four districts, including Samfya,” Mr Musunga said.
Mr Musunga said this after councillors and others wanted to know how far the council had gone on the issue of an application for land conversion by Luapula Water and Sewerage Company Limited for the construction of a modular water treatment plant.
He assured the meeting that the project would begin soon.
The meeting also raised some concerns over environmental extensions, health and social services.
Councillors called for the decentralisation of the recruitment of teachers to avoid abandonment of pupils.
They observed that applicants from other provinces and towns often sought transfers to schools in urban areas after being employed by the government.
Meanwhile, council secretary Laura Yumba Munkata has said LGAZ in collaboration with CLGF and MLG has expressed interest in undertaking development projects in the district.
She said one of the projects was aimed at contributing to enhanced local governance for effective, efficient and inclusive service delivery.
Mrs Munkata said LGAZ and its partners, CGLF and MLG, were implementing development projects with financial support from the European Union (EU) and United Kingdom Department for International Development (DfID).
During the same meeting Mrs Munkata also submitted reports on the re-planning of the land opposite the Lake Bangweulu Beach Road Junction to have coordinated developments in the district as guided by the Zambian laws.
She said she had received an application for plot regularisation by BEM Motors, which is needed investigation.
Mrs Munkata informed the meeting that the council was rehabilitating three boreholes per month.
And a representative from the Department of Social Welfare said school fees for pupils under bursary would be paid once money was available.
Another representative from Keeping Girls in School said the programme had not yet paid school fees for pupils under bursary for term one this year.
It was resolved that the fees for the 404 pupils would be paid annually.
The meeting, which was chaired by Mr Musunga, was attended by stakeholders from various organisations, headmen and council officers who are in different committees
