Fri, 16 Dec 2016 11:02:51 +0000
By AARON CHIYANZO
THE Patriotic Front (PF) has demanded for the termination of the contract to manage Kulima Tower bus station by Parkrite Zambia Limited, a private company that has taken over the running of public parking spaces in all areas in the Central Business District of Lusaka.
Speaking during a fact-finding tour of Kulima Tower bus station in Lusaka yesterday, PF deputy elections chairperson Kelvin Bwalya Fube said that he was not happy with the conditions which were outlined in the contract between Parkrite and the Lusaka City Council (LCC).
Mr Fube wondered what was wrong with the operations and management of the bus station for the city council to hand over the facility to Parkrite.
He warned that such contracts were marred by politics and that had the potential to be taken advantage of by the opposition.
Mr Fube pointed out that the bus station was making a lot of money and that it was imperative that Zambians benefited from the funds raised from the station.
“I’m not happy with the conditions contained in this contract for Parkrite and LCC. If you look at the terms for termination and others, they are not fair. This bus stop is making a lot of money and if you leave it to be run by foreigners, all the profits will be going outside,” he said.
And Kulima Tower chairperson Tresford Mwila said that the bus station had been operating well under the management of LCC.
Mr Mwila disclosed that the station was currently making about K250,000 per month from the money that was collected every day by LCC officers.
He wondered why the council had decided to hand over management of the station to a private company, which he said would be paying the council K120,000 per month from the K300,000 it projected to make.
Meanwhile, most of the bus drivers interviewed during the Mr Fube’s tour also demanded for the termination of the contract between LCC and Parkrite.
One of the drivers Jimmy Mwanza explained that LCC was only charging them K25 per bus on a daily basis and that he wanted things to continue that way.
Mr Mwanza said that he was not happy with the coming of Parkrite and that they had failed to manage the parking system in town.
Another driver Brian Phiri wondered how Parkrite was going to succeed in managing the bus station when it had failed to manage parking areas.
