KCC on course towards dismantling K35m debt, says Town Clerk

THE Kitwe City Council (KCC) is firmly on course towards dismantling the more than K30 million it owes various statutory bodies in statutory obligations, Town Clerk Mbulo Seke has said.

And Mr Seke has said the dilapidated Chibuluma road, which was mostly used by international truckers, was becoming impassable and needed urgent rehabilitation works to give it a face-lift.

Mr Seke was speaking on Wednesday when Local Government and Rural Development Minister Gary Nkombo paid a courtesy call on Kitwe Mayor Mpasa Mwaya.

Mr Seke said the local authority was currently owing a total of K35 million in statutory obligations and it was on a path to dismantle it by 2022 .

"This is historical debt dating as far back as 2010. We hope to clear it in 2022. This entails that the council should maximise revenue collection in order to pay off the debt the same way we have been consistently paying in the last three years.

"The revenue collection efficiency has been rising consistently. For example, in 2019 our revenue collection efficiency was 65%; 2020 at 70% and 2021 is poised to be at 80%. With increased collection efficiency comes more revenue and ability to liquidate the debt,'' Mr Seke said.

And on the dilapidated Chibuluma road, Mr Seke said the local authority was calling on Government through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to facilitate rehabilitation of the 6 kilometres Chibuluma road which was nearly becoming impassable.

On NAPSA, he said the penalties under NAPSA were retrogressive and needed to be addressed because all government departments, commercial businesses among others were complaining about the same.

In response , Mr Nkombo said a meeting was this week held with the Local Government Association of Zambia where issues of penalties under the NAPSA act were discussed.

Mr Nkombo said he would quickly engage NFRA to see how they could soon come in and fund the project especially that a variation order was already done.