Council defends proposed sale of Mpezeni hall

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:46:16 +0000

By MUYANI SHINJABALE

THE decision to sell Mpezeni hall in Chifubu Constituency will pave way for the establishment of a modern library and a shopping mall, the Ndola City Council (NCC) has said.

NCC Public Relations Manager, Tilyenji Mwanza, said the local authority intends to sell the hall with the view of taking development in the city.

Ms. Mwanza said the building would be sold at K2.9 million as recommended by government valuators.

In an interview with the Daily Nation, Ms. Mwanza noted that once the hall was sold, it will bring about the construction of a state-of-the-art library.

“The council has tried to see in what ways it could refurbish the libraries in the city as they are in deplorable state.

“However there has been a proposal to sell Mpezeni hall with the condition that whoever buys it will have to put up a modern library, which has to be a state of the art kind,” she stated.

Ms. Mwanza said the new library would be handed over to the council before the people who will construct a shopping mall.

She stated that the initiative was one way of promoting a good reading culture in the country, especially in Ndola.

Ms. Mwanza said the project was not only going to promote a rich reading culture in the district but would also create job opportunities for young people in the city.

She said the council would engage other people to help re-stock the existing libraries in the district with new books and computers to modernize them accordingly.

Ms. Mwanza also noted that apart from the sale of Mpezeni hall, NCC intends to renovate four hospital wards in Chifubu Constituency.

She said the refurbishing of the current health facility in Chifubu was a good move as opposed to using the hall as a tavern.