By RABECCA CHIPANTA –
CHINGOLA Municipal Council has identified 4,000 hectares of land meant for resettlement of retrenched miners on the Copperbelt.
Speaking in an interview, Chingola Mayor Titus Tembo said the council had identified a piece of land south of Chingola to be given to the retrenched miners.
Mr Tembo said the council was faced with the challenge of surveying the land which he hoped would be done soon in order for the council to allocate the land to the ex-miners.
“We have identified a piece of land but at the moment we do not have enough manpower to survey it so we have involved the Ministry of Lands to assist us with labour to help with the actual survey.
“We are working in conjunction with the District Commissioner’s office where the registration is being conducted to push for the ministry to help with the survey,” he said.
He explained that the land is intended for the 1,000 miners that the council had identified but noted that not all of them may be interested in farming.
“About 1,000 miners were retrenched from here but as you know some of them may not want to go into agriculture and those will not be settled on this land but for those that want to go into agriculture they will be settled on this land. If the land will be small to accommodate all of them then some will have to go to Lufwanyama where a larger piece of land has been identified,”
Meanwhile Lufwanyama district council secretary Rebecca Banda says the council had written letters to the chiefs over the issue and was awaiting response from the chiefs.
Ms Banda said the chiefs are still holding consultative meetings with their village headmen over the issue.