Private sector pivotal to sustainable economic growth

Sat, 21 Jan 2017 14:23:42 +0000

By BUUMBA CHIMBULU

PRIVATE sector contributions to sustainable development in Zambia hold the key to driving Zambia’s growth, this is according to Stanbic Bank Zambia.

Stanbic Bank chief executive director Charles Mudiwa said development such as decent housing played a vital role in eradicating barriers to opportunity that might have been part of a family’s life for years.

He was speaking when the bank in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Zambia handed over a house to Ng’ombe family in
Lusaka under the housing project.

“To this end, Stanbic Bank has, over the years, worked to improve education and health facilities and services across Zambia. Under our corporate social responsibility programme, the bank has changed the lives of many Zambians across the country,” he said.

Mr Mudiwa said Stanbic bank had been in Zambia for close to 60 years and that it would continue to support the growth of the country.

Stanbic Bank in 2016 promised to provide housing to vulnerable families in Zambia, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Zambia that is overseeing the construction of ten houses valued at K400, 000 over five years.

And beneficiaries of the project, a 62-year-old Agness Sakala, together with her 79-old-year-old husband Lackson, had been living in a tent with their ten grandchildren in Lusaka’s Ng’ombe area for the past six years.

Ms Sakala said the commitment shown by Stanbic and Habitat in providing decent housing for the vulnerable people in the society was a significant and humbling achievement.

“The long wait is finally over for us to have a proper roof over our heads and a place that deserves to be called home,” she said.

Zambia is currently facing a shortage of 1.3 million houses, and that number is projected to reach more than 3.3 million by 2030.

Statistics show that the country produces a mere 73,000 housing units annually with only 40 percent meeting the minimum health and sanitation requirements in accordance with the Zambian
Public Health Act.