‘Exempt Siavonga from project freeze’

By NATION REPORTER GOVERNMENT should exempt Siavonga from the suspension of projects which are below 80 percent completion because it will negatively affect the towns’ quest to become one of the best tourist attractions in the country.

Hitler Mweemba, the Kariba ward chairperson for infrastructure development who made the appeal, said Government had five uncompleted projects in the tourist town, namely the district administration block, modern civic centre, construction of 20 medium and 10 low cost houses, post office and a police station which would give the district a face lift to attract more tourists.

Mr Mweemba claimed that most contractors Government engaged to carry out the projects had no capacity to finance the works on their own and only depended on Government upfront payments to mobilise resulting in the projects to drag on since 2012.

He said the failure to complete the projects on time had denied the residents of the resort town to have improved service delivery as most civil servants and local authority officers had continued operating in dilapidated offices and also lacked accommodation.

The Ministry of Works and Supply should take stock of the stalled projects and identify contractors who had not done a good job, said, adding that while the people in the area supported Government plan to empower local contractors, there was need to get rid of those doing shoddy works.

Mr Mweemba said it was wrong for local contractors to bid for the projects in the area even when they knew that they had no capacity to carry out the works, adding that the continued delay to complete the five projects was a huge punishment to the civil servants who were in need of accommodation and office space.

‘’Civil servants are facing a serious challenge of accommodation which is negatively affecting service delivery in the district, therefore, Government should consider Siavonga as a special case,” he said.