By Nawa Mutumweno – The United States’ foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into Zambia over the past ten years totalled $3.1 billion. The investment configurations covers mining, agriculture and services with over 4 000 jobs generated for the locals. And speaking at the AGOA stakeholders’ preparatory meeting in Lusaka recently, Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) export and marketing promotion director Glyne Michelo said Zambia’s exports to the US under AGOA amounted to $116 million since its inception in 2000. Exports to the US have grown from $7.9 million in 2001 to over $25 million in 2008, declining to $5.3 million on... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Monday, January 10th 2011 |
By Nawa Mutumweno – Government has stipulated the fees and regulation for oil and gas exploration to facilitate the issuance of licences. According to Mines and Minerals Development minister Maxwell Mwale, a statutory instrument (SI) was signed on Thursday, December 16, 2010 to allow companies that were selected to conduct exploration to proceed. “I have signed a statutory instrument which prescribes the fees and regulations. This means that those mining firms that were chosen can now be issued with exploration licences,” he elaborated. Seven firms were selected to undertake exploration of oil and gas within 23 blocks in five provinces.... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Monday, January 10th 2011 |
By Nawa Mutumweno – The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) in Zambia has signed contracts with three neighbouring countries to export maize worth $11 million. According to FRA assistant public relations officer Michael Mazakaza, 272 263 tonnes of maize will be exported to Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe. Out of the consignment, 76 117 tonnes have already been paid for, Mazakaza added. The delay in the export of the maize has been caused by logistical challenges such as few trucks on the Lusaka-Harare route. The high export transport cost is the other limiting factor.
Publish Date: Wednesday, January 5th 2011 |
By Nawa Mutumweno – The Rural Electrification Authority (REA) has obtained funding from the World Bank to subsidise new connections in rural areas. According to chief executive officer Wilfred Serenje, the funding agreement was signed in December 2010 between the Zambian government and the World Bank. “The World Bank signed a $10 million agreement with the government on December 13, 2010 to be administered by the REA to subsidise 30 000 new connections,” he elaborated. The amount will only cover areas in which electricity distribution networks have been put in place. Subsidising the new connections will help make access to... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Wednesday, January 5th 2011 |
By Nawa Mutumweno – The projected power output at the Kafue Gorge Lower hydropower project has been raised from the initial 600 to 800 megawatts. According to Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) managing director Ernest Mupwaya, the Chinese developers for the estimated $2 billion power project had already completed an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the geotechnical studies for the project which is expected to come on stream by 2017. “Preliminary studies by the Chinese developers show that the power station will be producing around 800 MW contrary to earlier studies by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which put the... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Wednesday, December 29th 2010 |
