Explain dormant solar mills - Lungu
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has demanded an explanation from the regional cluster on economic diversification and job creation on why some solar milling plants commissioned in 2015 are dormant.
In 2015, President Lungu commissioned the construction of 2, 000 milling plants across the country to assist in poverty alleviation as it was anticipated that mealie prices would reduce.
Speaking when the regional cluster on economic diversification and job creation presented a quarterly report to him at State House yesterday, President Lungu demanded to know what the various economic clusters at provincial level were doing to correct the situation and ensure that the solar milling plants serve their intended purpose.
The meeting was attended by all 10 provincial ministers and their permanent secretaries.
"Solar milling plants have been spread all across the country and I want to know why some of them are white elephants. I know that some of them are white elephants so why are they white elephants," said President Lungu.
He expressed the need to establish why the solar milling plants were not serving their intended purpose and wanted to know what was being done to ensure the solar mills work to benefit the people.
"We have to take development from the centre (Lusaka) to all provinces and eventually the districts for national development through these various development programmes,' he said.
And chairperson on the cluster Nickson Chilangwa later told journalists in an interview that a meeting will be held with all provincial ministers and the Zambia Cooperative Federation (ZCF) who are the implementers of the hammers programme to find out how many solar hammer mills were working and how many were not.
Mr Chilangwa who pula Province Minister said the meeting would be held in the presence of Presidential Affairs Minister Freedom Sikazwe. Mr Chilanga said the meeting would discuss how best the hammer mills can be used to help reduce escalating mealie meal prices.
Meanwhile President Lungu said if the six provinces that held expos were having challenges in actualising investment pledges, they should indicate that so Government could work with them in actualising implementation.
Acting National Development Planning Minister Michael Katambo says provinces have been making progress to innovate strategies to improve their investment potential through provincial exhibitions.