Kalumbila council approves K18m 2017 budget

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 12:17:46 +0000

By JACK MAPAPAYI

KALUMBILA District Council has approved a budget of K18 million for the 2017 civic year, says council secretary Frank Kalenga.

Mr Kalenga said of the total budget, about 75 percent would be from locally generated resources while 25 percent would come from central government in form of grants and Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

In an interview, Mr Kalenga said that out of the whole budget, 60 percent – amounting to K10.9 million – would go towards service provision while 40 percent will be administration costs  such as salaries.

He said the major projects that will be undertaken under service provision included the construction of a civic centre, housing units for staff, water reticulation system, improve the road network and the construction of a hotel and a shopping mall.

“The civic centre and housing units are a top priority because we want to settle down. Of course by so doing roads should be opened and water connected; the rest will have to follow,” he said.

He said people’s expectations were high especially that the district was a new one with two big mines operating in it.

He said although the council had not yet started collecting any revenue from the two mines, the council was looking forward to having a modern town by 2018.

He said people in the district should be calm and exercise patience as the local authority, with the help of central government, was doing everything possible to improve the district.

“So residents should bear with us because trying to make a model town by ploughing 60 percent back to the community is a big undertaking,” he said.