By JUDITH NAMUTOWE –
THE Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) says negotiations for the concession agreement between the Government and North-West Railway (NWR) over US$1 billion railway line will be concluded  by the end of this year.
ZDA director general Patrick Chisanga said negotiations had reached an advanced stage and would be concluded by the end of the year.
Mr Chisanga said this during a media briefing in Lusaka last week.
“I am happy to report that negotiations for concession agreement have advanced and we expect that this will be concluded by the end of this year,” Mr Chisanga said.
The construction of the $1 billion North-West railway line was set to commence last year with the investor targeting the stretch between Kalumbila and Solwezi in North-Western Province for the initial part of the project.
ZDA director of public private partnership Henry Sakala, who has been tasked to work closely with various stakeholder groups on this particular project, also said that discussions were on-going.
Mr Sakala said the project was complicated as it involved compensating people along the way.
He said it involved a number of issues that needed to be addressed before taking off.
“But I must mention to you that the Government is desirous to have this project as early as possible. Our earlier schedule was to ground-break this particular project by August this year, but there are a few other things that we need to play around,” Mr Sakala said.
Meanwhile, Mr Chisanga said the agency was in the process of reviewing the existing strategic plan. The last strategic plan was for the period 2013 to 2015.
He said ZDA had started the process of firstly reviewing the 2013/15 strategic plan and further develop the new strategic plan for the period 2015 to 2020.
“Obviously this will be a build-up on 2013/15 strategic plan and will re-focus on the direction to match the changing investment and business climate at home and abroad.
“The new plan aims at developing an over-arching aspiration for ZDA of transforming business for the benefit of Zambians,” he said.
Mr Chisanga said that the agency would focus on increasing and expanding non-traditional exports by facilitating value-addition and diverse products into existing and new markets.