The Bridge Consortium, a Zambian sustainable infrastructure development firm is developing a green city in North Western province to help open up the area for trade with the DR Congo and Angola.

For bulk infrastructure, the project will cost US$440 million.

The Bridge Consortium Chief Executive Officer Peter Cotton said the city will comprise of residential, commercial, farm blocks, industrial and tourism infrastructure.

In an interview last week, Mr. Cotton said the firm has been prompted to invest in the industrial city because of its untapped potential in terms of it’s accessibility to Angola and DR Congo.

“The province has massive potential that has been choked for past few decades partly because of inaccessibility to Angola and Congo DR caused by lack of infrastructure development. As a company we aim to help unlock this potential.”.

The project will open up the Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) markets.

“It took combined team efforts for our team to come up with a detailed plan on how to establish the city and open access to the neighbouring countries,” he said.

Mr. Cotton said undertaking the project will also help decongest Kasumbalesa border.

Mr. Cotton said the firm has already engaged a consultant to undertake an environmental impact assessment report which will be submitted to the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) for approval to enable the project to take off.

In in a separate interview, the Bridge Consortium Founder and Chairman Gai’us Mwangana King said the project will also open up regional integration in terms of trade, create sustainable wealth create wealth for the locals thus positioning Zambia as an important regional industrial hub. The economic spiral effects are enormously massive.

Mr. King said the company is currently engaging potential equity locally and internationally. We are also taking advantage of the current economic atmosphere with the renewed investor confidence in Zambia by going an extra mile advertising the endless opportunity our beautiful country offers.

“We have a responsibility as Africans to be masters of our own fate and drive the development and industrialization drive of our continent and the green industrial city at Kambimba is the future Industrial hub for the region,” he said.

Mr. King said the recent visit of President Hakainde Hichilema to Angola has opened accelerated efforts link Zambia to the Lobito corridor, which is a corridor of paramount importance to Zambia and the region. We are working very closely with the Governments of DRC Congo, Zambia and Angola.