Luanshya in library boost

THE Luanshya Municipal Council has constructed a public library in Mpatamato Township to improve literacy levels in the community.

The Mpatamato public

FORUM library will offer free internet and Wi-fi, educational CDs and DVDs, audio and e-books apart from the usual hardcopy books to members.

Luanshya Mayor, Nathan Chanda, said the library would not only improve the literacy levels but also enhance the council’s RDA public service delivery.

The new library, which cost K835, 000 to build, was the first modern public facility in the district.

It will supplement Helen Kaunda Library which until now, was the only public library in the FEAT mining town located in the central business district.

Mr Chanda said the library would play a crucial role in contributing towards the country’s attainment of

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

“This library plays a crucial role not only to the government’s social economic development goals according to President Edgar Lungu’s roadmap for national development documented in the seventh national development plan and the vision 2030, but also the attainment of SDGs,” he said.

M. Chanda explained that it was the dream of the council to provide a library to the people in Mpatamato in order to encourage a health reading culture and provide education material to learners in in the locality. He further urged the residents of Mpatamato to jealously guard the facility that has come at a huge cost.

And Luanshya District Education Board Secretary, Chilombo Kabwe, said the library would greatly help in alleviating illiteracy and other challenges associated with inability to read among leaners.

He said this in a speech read on his behalf by the District Education Standards Officer Traceford Nang’onde,