Senior Chief Musele of Kalumbila District has given Kalumbila Town Council a 3.5 hectares piece of land for the installation of a Solar power plant. Speaking to the media in an interview today, the traditional leader said that the gesture was made to supplement government effort and help relieve Kalumbila Town Council of the burden of sourcing for land. He added that traditional leaders were committed to collaborating with the government in terms of development.
” as traditional leaders, i think we are on top of things to make sure we cooperate, coordinate and with mutual respect to our government especially when it comes to develop, so considering the fact that the country is going through a lot of power deficits and with the Presidential directive to the Ministry of Finance and all local authorities to secure funds for the construction of mini solar plants in all constituencies to mitigate the power outages the country experienced for the past years, I gave out that land to the local authority in good faith, I know it will not only benefit my chiefdom but even other communities,” Senior Chief Musele said The traditional leader noted that with today’s survival being dependent on energy, the Presidential constituency energy initiative was commendable as it would make productivity continue without being affected by power outages. ” The solar plant is going to be beneficial to everyone, I know you are aware Mr Hakainde Hichilema has talked so much about migrating from analog to digital, we are now moving not only Zambia but the whole World is planning to move away from hydro, thermal to green energy, so one of the mitigation that our own government has taken is by identifying and initiating the first project that people should know it is the starting point of what government wants to do and the land given to the local authority will benefit all communities because this is something that will be tapped on the national grid,” he added. Meanwhile Kalumbila Town Council chairperson Shadrick Munjunga explained that the land acquired through support from Senior Chief Musele will house a 2 megawatts solar plant.
Mr Munjunga said the site has been surveyed and approved and a report has been made to the Ministry of Local Government and rural development. “With the Presidential directive of coming up with 2 megawatts as a local authority, we have been supported with land and everything is done awaiting official communication for the commencement of the installation of the solar plant,” he said. Additionally, the council chairperson said the district was progressing well in line with electricity connectivity stating that through the Rural Electrification authority (REA) 2,500 housing units will be connected to electricity with works ongoing. “Kalumbila was not much connected to electricity but this time around through REA 2500 housing units are to be connected to electricity, the project has already started and the contractor is on site rolling up poles around Kisasa and surrounding areas,” he said.
Read Full Article on Lusaka Times
