By KENNEDY MUPESENI –
THE inclusion of dual citizenship in the new Constitution will impact positively on the economy, the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors (ABCEC) has said.
ABCEC president, Michael Nyirenda said the dual citizen law would increase the number of local contractors as some of the foreign contractors would get Zambian citizenship.
Mr Nyirenda said ABCEC was pleased with dual citizenship clause because many contractors in the country had for a long time been made to pay colossal sums of money in licences due to shareholding resident permits.
He said this was despite some of them operating in the country for more than 50 years and yet they were being treated as foreigners.
“With the coming of the new clause, we expect to see an increase in local construction companies largely because owners may get the Zambian citizenship,” he said.
Commenting on the construction boom the Copperbelt Province was experiencing, Mr Nyirenda said the association was pleased that the province was a hive of construction activities.
He, however, urged authorities to be cautious in the implementation modalities to ensure that qualified contractors were awarded contracts.
The major construction works include the Ndola Airport, the construction of 400 Kilometres of roads dubbed ‘C-400 and water reticulation system at Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company at the cost of  US260 million.
Launching the projects on the Copperbelt, President Edgar Lungu directed that 20 per cent of all construction works and supplying opportunities be given to Copperbelt based firms.