Business News

Tue, 09 May 2017 12:39:11 +0000

Dangote to sell surplus power

By VIOLET TEMBO

DANGOTE Industries Zambia is selling 8 MW surplus power to interested parties, says company plant director Ram Sharma.

Mr Sharma said that Dangote has since opened up discussions for possible sale of the excess power to the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC).

Speaking in an interview after familiarization tour of the cement mines and power plant respectively for seven of its top clients, Mr Sharma said that the company’s thermal power plant had capacity to produce 30 mega watts.

“Dangote has its own power plant and we do not depend on ZESCO. This enables our company to be efficient and we are not affected by increase in proposed tariffs or load shedding,

“Current production of our thermal power plants stands at 30 mega watts and production of cement only consumes between 20 and 21 mega watts,’’ he said.

He said it was the intention of the company to share the surplus with the Zambian community through CEC. Once negotiations were concluded Dangote Zambia would be ready to give it away.

Mr. Sharma said that the power thermal plant  consumed 400 tonnes of coal per day which was sourced from Maamba coal mine.

He described the quality of the coal being used as good.

He said currently the plant had not achieved full capacity since it kicked off operations in 2015.

He explained that the plant with capacity of 3.2 million tonnes per annum could only consume 1.8 million tonnes per annum. Mr Sharma added that currently the company was exporting cement to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Malawi which consumed approximately 20,000 tonnes, representing 15 percent of the company’s volume sales.

Mr. Sharma said Dangote remained committed to producing high quality cement at the lowest cost.

“Manufacturing of cement at our plant is in conformity with statutory requirements and commitment to quality begins from the mines.

“Quality is at the helm of quality control process using our highly automated robot laboratory. It is unmanned,” he said.

He said the economic indicators have proved that ordinary Zambians can afford the commodity to build shelter which resulted in closing up the housing deficit in the country.

Govt urged to fund ZEGA

 training school

By SHEILA SAKUPWANYA

THE Zambia Export Growers Association (ZEGA) has called on Government to recapitalize the Natural Resources Development College (NRDC) -ZEGA Training Trust so that it could start training export farmers to grow produce for international markets.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, ZEGA chief executive officer Luke Mbewe said it was important for the country to train export farmers that were of international standard as that was a requirement if Zambia was to export its horticultural produce and boost the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Mr Mbewe noted that the trust worked very well and had trained over 3,500 export farmers between 1997 and 2008 but was later given to NRDC and had since been closed.

“As a country we need such a trust so that we can train export farmers whose produce can be acceptable at international market. At inception the trust worked very well and we trained over 3,500 export farmers. However, since it was handed over to NRDC it has closed, thereby affecting the nation’s export of horticulture products,” he said.

He disclosed that over 20 horticulture companies had closed because they could not access international market yet if these people were trained export farmers, they could have created jobs and positively contributed to the nation’s GDP for social and economic development.

Mr Mbewe said the infrastructure of the trust was still at ZEGA and that all the Government needed was finances to rehabilitate it and start running the programs.

He has called on Government to recapitalize the trust if Zambia was to access the international horticulture market and benefit from its competitive advantage for national development.

‘Mystery’ washing powder

 worries consumer body

By CHIKUMBI KATEBE

CONSUMERS have been cautioned against buying loose washing powder from the streets as it has no manufacturers’ names or date of expiry, says Zambia Consumer Association executive secretary Juba Sakala.

Mr Sakala said members of the public must be wary of the washing powder currently be-ing sold at all markets and street corners because it does not show the manufacturing company or which country it was being imported from.

“It is basically cheap and sold in dishes, small plastic bags, in packages without labels and containers like the famous ‘pamelas’.

“ZACA asks consumers to be wary of this washing powder because it doesn’t show expir-ing date, the manufacturing company and where it was manufactured,” he said.

He explained that consumers must be careful as to the kind of chemicals used in the washing powder might affect them directly or indirectly on their clothes, hands or even general health.

He said those in the habit of buying the washing powder must take serious precautions on the product which has no name or manufacturers attributed to it.

ZACA was working in collaboration with the Zambia Bureau of Standards and other regu-latory authorities to help ascertain its contents and safety of the washing powder.

“We know most consumers have little knowledge of the effect of such washing powder on clothes and one’s health in future,” he said.

Mr Sakala has also called on the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) to check the origins of the washing powder through its entry point.

“The washing powder is coming from outside Zambia, so let them make sure it is banned as it will significantly affect the local industry which is striving to survive,” he said.

Mr Sakala said as ZACA, they have urged all consumers to be cautious and take their health interest at heart in determining the origin, expiring date and manufacturing com-pany of the commodity they were using.

Taxpayers rush to

benefit from amnesty

 By BUUMBA CHIMBULU

THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has so far received 4,800 applications from taxpayers under the amnesty on interest and penalties launched last month.

And ZRA has announced that Value Added Tax (VAT) collection has gone up by over 500 percent in a space of four months as a result of a new method introduced by the authority to collect duty.

ZRA commissioner general, Kingsley Chanda, explained that the amnesty on interest and penalties was yielding positive results with the ZRA receiving 4,800 applications.

Mr Chanda however said the authority had so far only managed to work on 500 out of the 4,800 applications because the exercise was being conducted manually.

“Because of the volumes of applications that we are receiving, we have decided to automate the waiver of penalties and interest, the system will be scanning the data. “Taxpayers should not be frustrated and panic. By Friday this week the automatic waiver will be commissioned,” he said.

He was speaking when he featured on ZNBC Sunday Interview programme this week in Lusaka.

Mr Chanda said Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) had taken advantage of the amnesty to normalize their relations with ZRA.

He urged taxpayers to continue taking advantage of the exercise and renew their tax certificates which would expire on June 30th 2017 to avoid being blacklisted in conducting business.

“People that have taken advantage of this amnesty are the SMEs. These people are running to clean their accounts. For SMEs please continue coming through and ensure that you are eligible to get your tax clearance certificate to last you up to December 2017.

“If you do not step forward, your tax clearance certificate will expire in June 2017 and we will not issue any tax clearance certificate, meaning you cannot participate in tenders. We will make sure we publish all the expired tax clearance certificates,” he said.

And Mr Chanda explained that one of the ways the authority had introduced to ensure taxpayers complied with their taxes was collection at source which has so far yielded positive results.

“We have changed the collection process, we now collect, especially VAT, at source. That in a space of four months has changed our VAT collections which are now up by 500 percent.

“We are helping taxpayers to comply, including people that supply to Government. This has gone up by over 500 percent and it is doing extremely well,” he said.

WB gives Zambia

$200m for rural

 road rehabilitation 

BY MAILESI BANDA

THE World Bank’s board of executive directors yesterday approved a US $200 million International Development Association (IDA) credit facility for Zambia to improve selected rural roads in six of the country’s 10 provinces.

World Bank country manager for Zambia Ina Rothenberg said the improvement of the road network in Zambia was important for economic growth.

Ms Rothenberg said enabling rural areas with road connectivity would help in the reduction of poverty in rural areas.

“The Improved Rural Connectivity Project is significant for Zambia because it will improve connectivity in rural areas where poverty levels are particularly high,’’ she said.

She said besides the project providing improved connectivity to schools, markets, health facilities and jobs for the rural communities, it had the transformational potential of positioning Zambia as the regional food basket.

She stated that the roads would contribute to Zambia’s economic diversification, adding that while the fund was for specific roads the Government would finance the remaining four provinces.

She said the Improved Rural Connectivity Project would benefit 460,000 people in the targeted rural areas.

And World Bank senior transport specialist, Justin Runji, said the project would contribute to the addressing of institutional capacity challenges.

He hoped that the serviced roads contribute to the growth of the Zambian economy.

“The project will also contribute towards addressing institutional capacity challenges, particularly in the area of road maintenance and road safety in Zambia, where feeder roads are largely in poor condition,“ he said.

He explained that Zambia was currently serviced by a road network of 67,671 km, adding that rural roads were in poor conditions, making it difficult for small scale farmers to access markets for their produce.

He said the majority of the rural population in Zambia depended on subsistence farming for their livelihoods and that the funds for the project would facilitate agricultural development in the country by improving farmers’ accessibility to markets.