The massive fall out in the ruling Patriotic Front following the sacking of justice minister Wynter Kabimba is bringing forth vital information concealed in the so much claimed road development agenda.
Until yesterday, the PF had claimed Link Zambia 8000 was their brainchild to bring development to the country and refused to attribute anything to do with it to the Movement for Multi-party Democracy, MMD.
Finance minister Alexander Chikwanda put the record straight saying the Link Zambia 8000 road project was part of the development agenda rolled out in 2010 by former president Rupiah Banda.
This was after The Post attempted to implicate Chikwanda into an alleged corruption scandal where he allegedly picked a contractor for the Lundazi-Chama road project
The Post Newspaper in its September 2, 2014 edition reported that Finance minister Alexander Chikwanda was soliciting a US$90 million government-to-government loan facility to finance the Lundazi-Chama Road project, for which he has already named a contractor.
“The minister wrote to EX-IM Bank of China two months ago, asking for US$90 million for the construction of the 123km Lundazi-Chama Road. Strangely, the minister has told EX-IM Bank that government has already contracted a Chinese company called Shanghai Construction Group to undertake the project. We don’t think it is the responsibility of the minister to identify a company that must undertake road projects. The tenders are supposed to be done at RDA (Road Development Agency) not at our Ministry [of Finance],” the source said.
The source said Chikwanda was eager to get financing for the road before the end of the year.
“He made it very clear in the letter to financiers that he needs the money before the end of this year. He said the works have to be implemented before the end of 2014.”
“His role is to source financing, but he cannot go further to pick a construction company on behalf of government. He assured EX-IM Bank that a Chinese company will undertake that project. Assuming it is true that government awarded that contract to Shanghai Construction Group, what happens if RDA decides to revoke that contract? Because already we understand that Shanghai Construction Group failed to start the Heroes Stadium access roadworks on schedule and was forced to sub-construct Oriental Quarries Enterprises for the job,” the source said.
However the same day the Ministry of Finance issued a statement purging the story and categorically state the project conceived in 2010 when President Sata was in opposition. The statement read as follows:
The Ministry of Finance is concerned that some Government officials have engrained the habit of “stealing information”, distorting it, and supplying the media without authority. This Ministry echoes the calls of the authorities and concerned members of the public to sanction such officials.
Today, there was a report in the media quoting an official in the Ministry ofFinance who was insinuating that we had irregularly identified a contractor for the Lundazi-Chama road. This is a total fabrication.
The Ministry hastens to say the identification of the contractor was done by relevant public entities and endorsed by the Zambia Public Procurement Authority in accordance with the lending policy of the Export-Import Bank of China.
The Lundazi-Chama road is one of the priority projects under the Link Zambia 8000, which will be undertaken at an estimated cost of US $90 Million. The said road is a portion of the Chipata-Lundazi-Chama-Chinsaliroad stretch.
As a background to this matter, members of the public may wish to know that this project was conceived in 2010, when the Government, through the then Ministry of Works and Supply, identified the said road as a key component of the ‘Nacala Development Corridor’, a regional transport network, linking Zambia to Malawi and the deep water port of Nacala in Mozambique.
After obtaining a no-objection from the Zambia Public Procurement Authority, the Government, through the then Ministry of Works and Supply signed a commercial contract with Shanghai Construction (Group) General Company of China on 19th August 2011 to facilitate financing arrangements for the project. Members of the public may wish to note that the commercial contract to engage Shanghai Construction (Group) General Company of China was signed by the Ministry of Works and Supply and not the Ministry of Finance. It is also important to note that the Contract was signed in August 2011 way before Honourable Alexander B. Chikwanda, MP became Minister of Finance.
In 2012, the Government undertook a review of the projects which were earlier submitted to the Export-Import Bank of China. The review process was intended to align key developmental projects to the Patriotic Front (PF) Manifesto.
On the basis of the foregoing, the PF Government, re-confirmed the priority nature of the Lundazi-Chama Road project under the Revised Sixth National Development Plan [R-SNDP] in a letter dated June 2014, in which Exim Bank of China, was requested by this Ministry to consider financing the project; consistent with the no-objection obtained from ZPPA in August 2011.
While we appreciate that it is the duty of the media to keep the public informed, it is also important that media practitioners assess the credibility of their news sources. This Ministry assures the public that it has instituted stringent financial governance systems and will strive to stay above board in all its transactions. We reiterate our commitment to fiscal prudence so that the people of Zambia obtain value for money from public investments.
We are confident that the completion of the Lundazi-Chama road project will boost economic growth and development among the beneficiary countries by reducing the cost of doing business and promoting growth of international trade.
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