DEFIANT CHINESE WARNED
…Ban on Kalundu Mall construction still stands-NCC
By KALOBWE BWALYA THE ban slapped on Shumetie Investments, a Chinese construction firm, to stop building the Kalundu Mall has not been lifted, says National Council for Construction (NCC) director Mathews Ngulube. Mr Ngulube said he was not aware about the resumption of works at the Mall because he has not received any letter from them regarding correcting the irregularities. In an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Ngulube said NCC he halted the project because the contractor did not meet the benchmarks needed before the project could take off and among other irregularities, Shumetie was not registered with the council. Mr Ngulube vowed that NCC would follow the matter keenly and ensure that the Chinese contractor met the requirements. Mr Ngulube said once Shumetie cleared the pending items then they would not have any problems with the project because change of use from residential to commercial had already been granted by the Lusaka City Council. He said he would follow all the institutions involved in the matter such as Lusaka City Council (LCC) and Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) which was in charge of environmental issues and to check the kind of business which would be put there. “If they are working then they are doing it illegally because we have not lifted the ban until they meet the requirements,” said Mr Ngulube. He said they were many things involved in the same project, among them was public outcry which could be ignored. “But NCC cannot stop the project unless if the contractor contravened the law and does not meet the standards. “We told them to wait because there are some few things that we were looking for, so we are not aware that they have gone back to the site,” said Mr Ngulube Last week, Government said it was in the dark about the resumption of works at the controversial Kalundu Mall by Chinese constructors after the project was halted because of revelations that the company had not followed the legal channels nor obtained necessary licences for the same. Both Lusaka minister, Japhen Mwakalombe and his counterpart at Water, Sanitation and Environment Development, Lloyd Kaziya, were unaware of the resumption of construction as they had not been furnished with information to that effect. The two ministers told the Daily Nation in separate interviews that they had neither received verbal nor written confirmation authorizing the resumption of construction of the Kalundu Mall, a project objected to by residents in the surrounding communities. Mr Kaziya said he had not been given any report to indicate that ZEMA had approved the project in retrospect. Mr Mwakalombe also expressed surprise, as he had neither received a verbal nor written briefing about any recommendation from any of the authorities tasked to look into the matter.