PRUDENTLY UTILISE TOLLGATE FUNDS, NGOMA TELLS GOVT

By Jessica Mwansa

THE Government must prudently utilise the money generated from toll gates to revamp other viable but limping sectors companies like the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) to improve the economy, opposition Leadership Movement (LM) has said.

Speaking to The Scoop, party Secretary General Jairos Ngoma said from the survey his party recently conducted, it was discovered that out of the 38 toll gates in the period January to May, 2023, the facilities generated over K1.1 billion out of the targeted K2.7 billion.

“The money being generated from toll gates is not playing its intended role of rehabilitating the dilapidated road network in the country because most roads in the country are still in a dilapidated state hence the need to direct the money to sectors that will contribute to national development such as reinvesting in the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia among others,” Mr. Ngoma said.

He alleged that if the money generated from toll gates was directed towards revamping projects that could boost the country’s economy since rehabilitation of roads for which it was intended was a far-fetched idea, it would be better because the cost of living would be manageable for the country’s citizens.

“If Mulungushi Textiles and Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia can begin functioning, then the youths would be assured of jobs and the country’s economy can be boosted. There is no need of borrowing money to run these projects but money generated from within our country can revamp them,” he said.

He said the Government should not only be focusing on borrowing and bringing foreign investors in the country but should also think of means and ways to create its own money.

“We cannot always rely on borrowing money whenever the economy is in such a state. Our country has many minerals that can generate money without involving foreign investors. The Government should have ways and means to act and respond to the challenges being faced before the economic situation worsens,” he said.

He further urged the Government to begin using local opportunities to improve the economy and not only depend on the foreign aid.

“The UPND administration should emulate UNIP that built a lot of infrastructure in the country such as the University of Zambia among others with local resources without depending on the borrowed money from foreign aid.

As a country, we need to start from the scratch with simple tools such as picks and shovels, with these simple tools, we can set up ZNS mines and produce gold, copper, and manganese and produce all these minerals which we can sell to other countries and gain forex,” he said.

He said there was a need to involve the youths in economic activities to have a smooth flow of development.

“We do not need a license to dig a pit. We are going to allow Zambians to produce manganese. Many villagers sit on manganese, but they cannot produce anything. When we form the Government, we will make sure that the young people are put to work by creating state farms in every district where we will be producing maize and cannabis in every district while on the other hand equipping ZNS to run the mines,” he said.