– Zambia has capacity to self-finance – Malama

Zambia has capacity to self  finance – Malama

 

Livingstone, June 29, 2014 ZANIS———Government says it has no intention to continue borrowing money to finance capital projects in the country.

 

 

And Zambia Railways Director of Infrastructure Sinonge Masiliso said about 4900 jobs had been created due to the works being done on the main railway line from Livingstone to Chingola districts, respectively.

 

 

Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Deputy Minister Mwemba Malama says Zambia was responsible for managing its own affairs and as such had to rely on stakeholders within the country for support as opposed to external borrowing.

 

 

“As a nation we are not going to continue borrowing money, no. It is not good. We are governing ourselves. We are responsible for managing the affairs of our country so we have to depend on one another,” he said.

 

 

ZANIS reports that the Deputy minister said this in Livingstone yesterday after he toured  works being undertaken by Zambia Railways Limited using the K120 million it was allocated from the Eurobond.

 

 

He emphasized the need for Zambia Railways to be prudent in the use of the funds and utilize it only for capital projects.

 

 

Mr. Malama reiterated that the country could only attract investors if it made meaningful investments in infrastructure development.

 

 

“We need better infrastructure if we are to attract investors. No investor can come if our infrastructure is in a deplorable state and jobs cannot be created without infrastructure,” he said.

 

 

Meanwhile, Zambia Railways Director of Infrastructure Sinonge Masiliso said about 4900 jobs had been created due to the works being done on the main railway line from Livingstone to Chingola districts, respectively.

 

 

“From Livingstone to Chingola we have created 4900 jobs under the contractors. This is good for the country especially that we are using local and not foreign contractors, “he said.

 

 

Mr. Sinonge further said 420 jobs had been created for the community due to works being done on the Mulobezi railway line.

 

 

He however, clarified that funds being used for the rehabilitation works on the Mulobezi railway line were not part of the Eurobond but derived from money earned by the company from its operations.