Local Government Minister has disclosed that the commencement of works to reconstruct Lusaka City Market which was gutted in 2017 has not yet been set due to non-availability of funds.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Dr. Charles Banda said government is still waiting for communication from National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) has been engaged to fund the project.
“There is nothing happening at City market now, we are waiting for communication from Napsa, whom we have engaged to be the funders,” Dr. Banda said.
Dr. Banda stated that once NAPSA manages to source for funds, government will then enter into Publicly Traded Partnership (PTP) with the Authority.
“Should NAPSA manage to source for resources and say they are able, then we are going to have a PTP between ourselves and them. So we are waiting for Napsa to respond, no works have been started yet,” he added.
In 2017, Fire swept through the Lusaka City market and bust station burning property worth millions of Kwacha and an estimated cost of 70 to 90 million Kwacha is required to rebuild the market.