THE governments of Zambia and Tanzania have resolved to set up a joint committee of experts to review the 1995 Tanzania Zambia Railway Act to instill efficiency in the cash-strapped Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA).
And the Zambian Government has made a commitment to inject US$10 million into the revival of the jointly-owned railway firm.
According to an article in yesterday’s edition of Tanzania’s Daily News, Tanzanian minister of Transport, Harrison Mwakyembe told journalists in Dar es Salaam that once the Act was reviewed, it would allow to structure changes in TAZARA management.
This follows the TAZARA council of ministers’ meeting held on Monday this week where Zambia was represented by Transport, Works, Supply and Communication Minister Yamfwa Mukanga.
Currently, the 1975 Tazara Act which was reviewed in 1995 states that the position of managing director would be occupied by somebody from Zambia while that of deputy managing director is reserved for a Tanzanian.
Among other changes, the review may lead to a situation where the holders of the two positions would be appointed on merit as opposed to the current system.
And Mr Mukanga said in the Tanzanian commercial capital, Dar es Salaam on Monday that Zambia was committed to injecting $10 million for recapitalisation of the railway firm but that initially it would pump in $5 million to increase the volume of cargo and passengers.
According to the Daily News, Mr Mukanga, who was flanked by his Tanzanian counterpart, Dr Mwakyembe and other senior government officials from both countries, made the remarks shortly after the council meeting.
“Among problems facing Tazara is capitalisation; we made a provision for the funds during the current financial year to enable the railway to increase passengers and cargo,” Mr Mukanga, who is the chairperson of the council of ministers for TAZARA, was quoted as saying.
He said the Zambian Government was committed to ensuring that the once-prosperous 1,800 kilometre railway got back to its earlier footing and reclaim its market for cargo and passengers.
“During the meeting, we have also discussed on how to revise the TAZARA Act in the respective countries,” Mr Mukanga said.
A year-long feasibility study is currently underway to establish the problems that afflict the railway company that links the Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia’s Central Province.
The study has already started and it is expected to be completed in June, next year.
The once-thriving railway line started sinking in the mid-1990s.
TAZARA is a brainchild of founding Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere and Zambia’s first leader, Kenneth Kaunda.

A LOCAL economist has said the ban on dollarisation will establish a firm basis for a sound local financial sector that will in the long run support a steady growth of the economy.
However, the Tourism Council of Zambia (TCZ) has said the move would impact negatively on tourism as most of products in the sector are quoted in foreign currency.
Commenting on the Government‘s Statutory Instrument (SI) to prohibit the quoting of prices in United States Dollars, Likando Mukumbuta said dollarisation would promote strong and steady economic growth in the economy.
The Government has banned business houses and institutions from quoting prices of goods and services in foreign currency rather than the national legal tender, the Kwacha.
Mr Mukumbuta said the Zambian economy was experiencing what he termed as an unofficial dollarisation and the move by the Government to issue the SI would protect the Kwacha as legal tender.
It would provide a stable and secure economic and investment climate.
“Of late we have seen inflation in Zambia go down to a single digit and so probably there might be a sentiment that we need to find better ways of consolidating this so that we can become an economy where inflation performs consistent,” Mr Mukumbuta said.
But TCZ chairperson Felix Mulenga said the ban on dollarisation would impact negatively on the tourism sector as most of the products in the sector were quoted in foreign currency.
Mr Mulenga said most of the products offered by the hotel and tour operators were exported to foreign countries and as a result there are priced in dollars.
He said the ban on dollarisation would have a negative bearing on the sector because clients make bookings in advance saying that quoting in Kwacha would result in price fluctuation.

BLACKTHORN Resources Limited (BTR) has said the final gold test for
phase five drilling project in Mumbwa in Central Province is showing
positive results.
BTR managing director Scott Lowe said the company was pleased to see
some positive gold results from the tests.
BTR is an Australian-based resources company unearthing value
from a diverse portfolio of base and precious metal projects in
Africa.
In Zambia, the Mumbwa copper-gold producing company is exploring for large iron oxide
copper-gold deposits, similar to the style of mineralisation found at
the Olympic Dam and Prominent Hill mines in South Australia, and
Ernest Henry mine in Queensland.
Drilling has delineated an initial Inferred Mineral Resource of 87
million tonnes at 0.94 per cent copper at the Kitumba Prospect.
According to a statement posted on the company website, the phase five
drilling programme commenced in August 2011 and was completed after
drilling 21 holes for a total of 10,934.51 metres.
“We are very pleased to see some positive gold results, especially
which these results confirm further shallow supergene enrichment.
“The current ground work and analysis, together with our future
exploration plans bring us into a truly exciting phase for the Mumbwa
project,” Mr Lowe said.
The statement said true-widths were not quoted as further work
was required to determine the geometry of the mineralisation.
It was considered that these elevated grades were a result of supergene
enrichment and
proximity to structures, most notably the North-East trending Kankamu Fault.
Zones of relative gold concentration were also observed in some drill holes.
The statement said that in most holes, the narrow zones of relative
gold enrichment occurred within a broad halo of low-level gold
mineralisation.
Further understanding of the gold and copper mineralised zones and
their geometries would be gained from geological modelling and the
updated mineral resource estimate currently in progress

By Business Reporter -
THE Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said Zambia needs to
improve statistical information on agricultural production and food
consumption to help optimise the production capacity of farmers.
FAO has observed that making data available on national food and
agricultural statistics in areas that produce particular foods would significantly improve the agriculture sector in Zambia and many
African countries.
To overcome this challenge, FAO has undertaken a programme to
create a database for all agriculture-related statistics called
CountrySTAT which would feed into the global system called FAOSTAT
covering more than 200 countries and territories.
FAO CountrySTAT project officer Julia Stone said the programme would
help the farmers and dealers in agricultural produce have
information pertaining to agricultural produce.
Ms Stone said the data would help people locate areas where the
produce would be found, especially that it would be collecting all the
data from all the food and agricultural institutions in the country
and carrying agricultural surveys.
“There are instances where there is a shortage of certain crops like
soya beans which can be found in the countryside, but under the
countrySTAT programme all the information will be provided,” she said.
Stakeholders in the agriculture sector contended that there was little
information on the availability of some of the agricultural produce in
the country, especially among small-scale farmers.
Speaking in Lusaka at the Agriculture Consultative Forum
stakeholders meeting, Ms Stone said the programme would also be
involved in the provision of quality and coordinated national
statistics by merging all the data from different food balance sheets
and food security analyses.
Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock development principal economist,
Dingiswayo Banda observed that there was lack of information in the
agriculture sector, which he said would be addressed by working in
collaboration with CountrySTAT.
“The project has links to other information systems including
FAOSTAT, Regional STAT and the global information and early warning
system work station which will help Zambia significantly,” he said.

 

THE Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) has said poor state of the rail network, roads and storage facilities are some of the challenges threatening the country’s food security and has called for more investments in supportive infrastructure.

ZNFU Director Commodities, Eveline Nguleka said the infrastructure challenges were pushing up the cost of commodities and it was important for Government and the cooperating partners to invest resources towards agriculture supportive infrastructure.

She said the country’s failure to have a reliable transport system linking the production sites to the markets and storage areas was a danger to Zambia’s food security despite the availability of abundant resources.

“Underdeveloped markets for agriculture products poor road and rail networks have to some extent contributed to the high transport costs for farm produce. Poor feeder road networks, storage facilities and livestock diseases control infrastructure need attention.

“ZNFU strongly believes that investment in road infrastructure linking the production sites to the markets will help address this problem. Government and its partners should channel resources towards key agriculture supportive infrastructure.

She said food security would not be attained if post harvest losses were not quickly addressed at both production sites and transportation stages.

Attention needed to be directed towards rural set up of agro-processing as this would create jobs, address rural urban migration as well as challenges of income inequalities, a factor she said had contributed to poor human development especially in rural areas.

She said that sub-Saharan Africa had abundant resources which could support the growth and revolutionalise the agriculture sector but unfortunately, major parts of the region were still hunger-stricken.

She said with the correct allocation of resources, Zambia and the entire region could attain food security sustainably at all levels and turn around agricultural productivity and urged other countries in the region to make correct priorities.

He added that Government’s stance to favour consumption than production was dentrimental to the long term and sustainable development of the agriculture sector

THE Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education is today expected to sign a one-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft Corporation that will seek to enhance access to the use of ICT in Zambian Schools.

Through the Partners-in-Learning MOU, both organisations will seek to improve adoption and use of technology in Zambian schools, increase capacity of teachers and students to use technology as a teaching and learning tool, and support initiatives that incorporate ICT in education.

Microsoft East and Southern Africa general manager Louis Otieno said technology was now becoming a driving force behind numerous aspects of national development and hence the need for Governments to embrace it.

“High-quality education is a fundamental component to the social and economic prosperity of any community,” he said in a statement.

“In today’s increasingly digital and connected world, computer skills are no longer a nice to have skill, but a requirement in almost all careers,” Mr Otieno said.

 

ZAMBEFF Products Plc has exported soya cake, leather and finished school shoes worth K13 billion into Europe, China, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Zambeef executive director Yusuf Koya said in an interview in Lusaka that finished school shoes and soya cake, were exported into Zimbabwe while, leather was shipped into China, South Africa and Europe.

“Soya cake is the main ingredient used to make stockfeed and is mainly exported to Zimbabwe.We could have exported a lot more but we have to satisfy the local demand first before we could go outside”, Mr Koya said.

“We have demand for our product not only in Zambia but in the region as well and we are struggling to satisfy demand and supplying the items is a great challenge. So we are short of beef, pigs, eggs, chickens and milk,” Mr Koya said.

He said the business had continued to grow and the expansion is headed by the growth of the Zambian economy.

He explained that the Zambian economy was recording the fastest growing rate in Africa excluding oil producing countries.

Zambeef is emerging as one of the leading agri-businesses in the region and has been involved in the production, processing, distribution and retailing of beef, chicken, pork, eggs, milk, edible oils, stockfeed, flour and bread.

The company is also one of the largest cereal cropping operations in Zambia with approximately 8,350 hectares of irrigated land and approximately 8,650 hectare of dry land, available for planting each year.

The group currently employees approximately 5,500 people.

CRESTA Marakarero Hotel of Botswana has bought Golfview Hotel in Zambia for about US$3 million
The company, which is an investment arm of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Botswana, has officially taken over the operations of Cresta Golfview Hotel in Zambia.
Cresta Marakanero managing director Tawanda Makaya says the move is designed to expand the Cresta brand across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and develop the hospitality industry in Zambia.
Mr Makaya says Zambia’s friendly business environment compelled Cresta to consider the country as a viable investment destination.
“We believe that we will operate effectively in Zambia because of the economy which is expected to grow by 8 percent in the next five years and the inflation hovering at 6 to 6.5 percent,” he said.
He said this at the re-launch of the Cresta Golfview Hotel in Lusaka.
Mr Makaya said plans are underway to expand on the Copperbelt in the last quarter of 2013.
“Prospects of our business are growing as we have been in the hospitality industry for 35 years, .we will continue to grow in other areas like the Copperbelt ,”he said.
Meanwhile Deputy Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Keith Mukata said intra-regional investment in the hospitality industry has been minimal with only few African countries investing in the sector.
Mr Mukata said the current bed-space in Zambia is below the optimum requirement with a bed capacity of approximately 1,500 compared to other countries in the region.
“The requirement for accommodation at all levels ranges from five-star hospitality to backpacker standard. Given the fact that the current bed-space in Zambia is far much below the optimum requirements, I urge Cresta Group to consider increasing their investment in the sector,” he said.
He said that there is need to invest in Zambia’s historical sites which have remained unexploited over the years to enhance the tourism industry in Zambia.
He said other investment opportunities in Zambia included water-related tourist activities, transport service, adventure enterprises, game- ranching and ethno tourism.
“Government will continue supporting initiatives that seek to promote the growth of Zambian businesses and their partnership not only in Zambia but also abroad,” he said.

AS the demand for energy increases around the world, Zambia has appealed to investors to speed up exploration and possible drilling of oil, in a move that could enrich the country and its people, according to Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Development Christopher Yaluma.
Mr Yaluma was speaking here during a road show aimed at marketing Zambia as the next best investment frontier in Africa.
“Apart from copper, the country has significant deposits of manganese, zinc, uranium, coal, limestone and phosphate all waiting to be exploited,” he said in a presentation.
Specifically, the minister told investors that the energy minerals in Zambia include “…coal bed methane and petroleum potential which can be considered unexploited” as renewable energy utilisation continues to remain “negligible” in Zambia.
Mr Yaluma feels the next biggest thing international investors in conjunction with the government must look at is to pump money into petroleum.
So far, according to Mr Yaluma’s well-received pitch here, potential investors and partners must look 43 blocks of oil and gas that have been set aside or demarcated for exploration, which has not taken place yet.
Mr Yaluma said 11 potential oil blocks were licensed last year by Government with 26 still remaining to be put up for tender, while some six other blocks await partners as Zambia targets to become a middle income country by 2030.
There are presently 86 Middle Income Countries (MIC) that include China and Egypt, which have slowly slipped off the low income bracket.
MIC people have more money than people in low income countries such as Zambia, whose people survive on less than US$2 per day for all their basic needs, according to World Bank studies.
Zambia’s quest to become an oil-producing country has probably been heightened by increasing mining activities that have exerted further pressure on power needs.
“Demand for power has risen from 1,100 mega watts in 2001 to 1,500 megawatts by 2011,” Mr Yaluma said adding “the base load has been growing at a rate of 100 megawatts per year.”
If oil and gas exploration is accelerated and the commodity is actually drilled, Zambia could join oil-producing countries in Africa such as Ghana, which discovered oil in 2009 at Cape Three Points Block.
This is being drilled by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), in conjunction with Vitol Upstream Ghana Limited (Vitol), and has set Ghana on a path of economic success.
Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Bob Sichinga, who told potential investors here that evidence exists to the effect that oil does exist in the north-western part of Zambia, echoed Mr Yaluma’s sentiments.
Mr Yaluma also said from now own, Government will discourage the export of mined “raw ore” and encourage investors to set up industries locally to promote value addition which will create jobs.
President Sata has stated at various fora here that he intends to create more well-paying jobs for the youth as he attempts to fight corruption.
Zambia is currently Africa’s number one copper producer, but the oil dream has been the missing link in the country and Government’s desire to accelerate economic growth and if it materialises, perhaps poverty levels will be drastically reduced.
What is important, however, according to analysts here, is that President Sata’s government should start putting in place laws that will ensure that Zambians benefit more from the oil, unlike the way the benefits from copper sales have continued to elude them.
Mr Yaluma is one of the ministers that accompanied President Sata here on his roadshow, in addition to others such as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism Given Lubinda and Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Development Emmanuel Chenda.
President Sata is expected back in Lusaka sometime this week as his busy schedule of business meetings continues.

THE private sector in Zambia has been urged to complement the Government efforts towards the successful hosting of the 20th session of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly in Livingstone and Victoria Falls town next year.

Institute of Directors Southern Region vice-president Frederick Mwendapole said there was need for the private sector to give maximum support to the Government in the hosting of the UNWTO general assembly.

In a response to a Press query, Mr Mwendapole said the hosting of the general assembly was a huge task which required both the private and public sector to work together.

“The President of Zambia, Michael Sata and his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe have already set the pace for everyone to work on and we should all put the best to see to it that the UNWTO general assembly succeeds.

“The private sector must therefore, give maximum support to the public sector in this regard so that we complement each other,” he said.

Mr Mwendapole, who is Bicentenary Livingstone 2013 liaison officer, said the recent trilateral hosting agreement signing ceremony of Zambia, Zimbabwe and the UNWTO was moving and exciting.

He said the two presidents and UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai did their part by putting Zambia and Zimbabwe on the word map and everyone should now be looking forward to the success of the assembly next year.

“For Zambia and Zimbabwe to have agreed to work together on this very important mission through our two ministers of Tourism for Zambia and Zimbabwe just shows how much our two presidents are valuing the existing relationship which the rest of us must appreciate,” he said.

In October 2011, Zambia and Zimbabwe won a bid to co-host the 20th Session of the 186-member General Assembly to be held in 2013 in Livingstone and Victoria Falls town, in Zimbabwe.

The general assembly is the principal gathering of the UNWTO which meets after every two years to consider the budget and programme of work for the United Nations specialised agency on tourism.

Delegates to the general assembly are drawn from the six regional commissions of the UNWTO from Africa, the Americas, the East and Pacific Europe, the Middle East and South Asia.

More than 3,000 delegates across the world are expected to attend the event in Zambia and Zimbabwe next year

THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has admitted that Zambia’s capital market is too small and weak to support Zambia’s desired growth prospects and urgently needs a boost to keep up with the thriving economic trends.

Deputy BoZ governor in charge of operations, Bwalya Ng’andu said the growth of the economy and local companies regardless of their size needed a strong capital market to support opportunities and help refinance operations.

He said the main capital market in Zambia, the Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) was not a well-developed source of finances adding that such were among the challenges Zambia’s financial sector needed to overcome.

“We have a small capital market and weak financial base. These are serious challenges Zambia faces and they have to be worked on for the capital market to support Zambia’s economic growth,” he said.

Dr Ng’andu said the central bank was looking at legislation which would bring in all parties in the financial sector to help provide long-term funding to the economy.

He was responding to Barclay Bank managing director Saviour Chibiya, who is the immediate past Bankers Association of Zambia (BAZ) chairperson who had said banks could not be wholly blamed for not fully supporting economic projects.

Mr Chibiya had said that while commercial banks may be getting the criticisms from various quarters including the Government for not fully supporting the economic growth in Zambia, the other forms of financing that could be used by the local economy were weak.

Commercial banks have been blamed for the high interest rates in Zambia, a situation that had disadvantaged most Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) which were inhibited from accessing the loans.

Mr Chibiya said various forms of capital markets were a source of finance for long-term loans for banks but regretted that Zambia did not have a well developed capital market that the banks could run to for funds to support long -term loans.

Dr Ng’andu admitted that the LuSE was too small and that the pensions and insurance should come on board to help provide financing to the banks or directly offer long-term loans to the business community.

“We have to deepen the financial sector. The development bank should play a role, the capital markets like the stock exchange and pensions and insurance should stimulate the money market and then the economy.

“We at the Bank of Zambia are reviewing legislation so that insurance companies are stimulated and help in deepening the financial sector. The pension is a great source of long-term financing and we are looking into that,” he said.

The World Bank has given Zambia a 265 billion Kwacha loan to boost livestock production and animal disease control. Speaking at a signing ceremony for the loan, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda said the low productivity in the livestock subsector is attributable to underinvestment. Mr Chikwanda says it is about time the agriculture sector diversifies to livestock from maize which last year absorbed more resources than the entire health sector. He says beef from Zambia has been keenly received in export destinations adding that the livestock sector which includes pork and poultry can lift thousands of people out of poverty. And World Bank Country Director, Kundhavi Kandiresan says the project targets 400 thousand smallholder livestock farmers in selected areas to improve cattle, sheep, goat, pigs and poultry production. She adds that one million other farmers who keep livestock will indirectly benefit from the project through improved control of animal diseases. The project target areas are the Eastern, Southern and Western provinces. The project has a component of funding the Ministry of agriculture and Livestock, training for extension officers. Farmers will only access the funding through farming groups.

MTN subscriber’s using Mobile Money Transactions (MMT) has suffered a sit back. They can’t use the facility due to a power outrage that has left a Kaoma resident stranded because her transport was sent through MTN’s Mobile Money Transactions. MMT customer care representative confirmed on Saturday, April 28 that they had a power outrage which had led to messages not to be delivered.
The lady identified as Rebecca, a customer care representative confirmed and said those using MMT will have delays in getting confirmations” we have a long of clients pending, we apologize for the inconvenienced caused, she said.

ONE top Bank of Zambia (BoZ) official has been axed from the final kwacha rebasing evaluation team and faces disciplinary action for trying to influence the awarding of the final tender to mint and print Zambian currency to one named foreign company. And sources at the central bank have said the Kwacha rebasing exercise will cost K430 billion and ten tenders have already been evaluated and sent to the Zambia Public Procurement Agency (ZPPA) for final selection.
The final evaluating team was reconstituted after the named official was removed after investigations revealed that he had been wining and dining with representatives of a named company which offered to print security features for the Zambian currency.

Sources at the bank said three companies have tendered in their bids to mint the Zambian coins while seven companies have bidded to print the Kwacha notes.
The source said the foreign companies are from England, France, Germany, Swtzerland and Russia and named some of the companies as Thomas De La Rue International, Giesecke and Devrient.
Others are Goznak of Russia, Orell Fussli Security Printing Limited of Switzerland and the South Africa’s Bank Note Company (Pty) Limited. Government in January approved the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) recommendations to re-base the local currency by removing three zeros from all denominations of the kwacha.
“The scrutiny process has been finalised and the tenders sent to the ZPPA for final selection. However, a low mood has gripped the evaluating team which is demanding for disciplinary action to be taken against an official who almost awarded the tender to a named foreign company on his own” he said. He said the complaints about the misconduct of the official who has been accused of bringing the name of the bank into disrepute have been relayed to the top management and other members of the evaluating team are waiting for action.
He said the ZPPA has been asked to take extra caution when scrutinising the tenders to avoid corrupt practices prevailing during the shortlisting of the companies to carry out the exercise. “The K430 billion will cover costs for the publicity campaigns and other logistics but the figure is likely to increase with other over head costs being taken into consideration” he said. And Anglican Priest Father Richard Luonde has said the PF government should consider contracting a renowned company to print the new currencies regardless of the costs.
He urged ZPPA to be transparent in its selecting process if the Zambian currency was to be protected from any illegal activities such as counterfeit production.
Central Bank deputy governor Dr. Bwalya Ng’andu said the printing of the new re-based Kwacha notes was expected to commence next month after the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) signs a contract with the preferred printer.

Senior directors from Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company whose contracts are coming to an end are living in fear that they may not be re-engaged following an indication from management  that president sata's core mandate of paying back to  his supporters in last elections is favors and job  offers.

One of the directors that spoke on condition of anonymity said Zambia has gone from bad to worst is who you know and not what qualification you hold. he has advised cabinet to limit employment his sympathizers.

FOURTEEN foreign firms among them Dalbit Petroleum and Kuwait’s Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) have been shortlisted for the two-year supply of diesel and unleaded petrol.
And nine foreign firms have been shortlisted for the supply of 1.4 million tonnesof petroleum feedstock to Indeni Petroleum Refinery over two years.
The country is currently looking for firms to supply diesel and unleaded petrol side by side with the firm to supply 1.4 million tonnes of petroleum feedstock over two years.
The tender constitutes for supply of finished petroleum comprising 15 to 20 per cent of the diesel and petrol that the country consumes.
According to sources with Zambia Public Procurement Authority, only one company was disqualified for submitting the bid late.
The sources who attended the tender opening last Friday, said some of the prominent bidders included Dalbit Petroleum of Kenya, the company which had the contract for the past two years, Agipol Africa, Addax Oryxl, Trafigula, IPG and Kenol Kobil.
IPG supplied oil to Zambia until its deal expired in December 2009.
In terms of cost, insurance and freight at Ndola, Dalbit Petroleum tendered for diesel at US$1, 191.20 per metric tonne, and petrol at US$1,372.46, Agipol Africa tendered for diesel at US$1, 261.01 and petrol at US$1, 367.45, Addax Oryxl tendered for diesel at US$1, 252.49 and petrol at US$1, 468.56.
Trafigula tendered for diesel at US$1,304.70 and petrol at US$1, 418.56, IPG tendered for diesel at US $1, 420.66 and petrol at US $1, 554.71 and Kenol Kobil tendered for diesel at US$1, 294.53 and petrol at US $1, 416.87.
According to sources, a technical analysis of the bids would be conducted before considering the financial proposals, and that according to the evaluation criteria, the bidder with the lowest price at the financial evaluation stage is considered the most responsive.
Price wise, Dalbit Petroleum Limited offered the best CIF Tazama Terminal price, followed by Agipol Africa and Oryx Oil.
The sources said Dalbit was poised to win the tender again subject to them passing the technical evaluation stage.
The sources also said nine companies successfully submitted bids for supply of comingled feedstock to the country for the next two years.
The sources said, for a price evaluation based on using option two of the feedstock combination – 65 per cent murban and 26 per cent gasoil and nice per cent naphuta – Gunvor Group of Switzerland offered the best CIF Dar es Salaam price followed by Addax of Gen?ve and Kobil of Kenya.
According to the sources, the price offered by Gunvor would lead to the country saving about US $40 million per 90, 000 metric tonne of feedstock cargo against the offer from its closest rival.

FOURTEEN foreign firms among them Dalbit Petroleum and Kuwait’s Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) have been shortlisted for the two-year supply of diesel and unleaded petrol.
And nine foreign firms have been shortlisted for the supply of 1.4 million tonnesof petroleum feedstock to Indeni Petroleum Refinery over two years.
The country is currently looking for firms to supply diesel and unleaded petrol side by side with the firm to supply 1.4 million tonnes of petroleum feedstock over two years.
The tender constitutes for supply of finished petroleum comprising 15 to 20 per cent of the diesel and petrol that the country consumes.
According to sources with Zambia Public Procurement Authority, only one company was disqualified for submitting the bid late.
The sources who attended the tender opening last Friday, said some of the prominent bidders included Dalbit Petroleum of Kenya, the company which had the contract for the past two years, Agipol Africa, Addax Oryxl, Trafigula, IPG and Kenol Kobil.
IPG supplied oil to Zambia until its deal expired in December 2009. In terms of cost, insurance and freight at Ndola, Dalbit Petroleum tendered for diesel at US$1, 191.20 per metric tonne, and petrol at US$1,372.46, Agipol Africa tendered for diesel at US$1, 261.01 and petrol at US$1, 367.45, Addax Oryxl tendered for diesel at US$1, 252.49 and petrol at US$1, 468.56.
Trafigula tendered for diesel at US$1,304.70 and petrol at US$1, 418.56, IPG tendered for diesel at US $1, 420.66 and petrol at US $1, 554.71 and Kenol Kobil tendered for diesel at US$1, 294.53 and petrol at US $1, 416.87.
According to sources, a technical analysis of the bids would be conducted before considering the financial proposals, and that according to the evaluation criteria, the bidder with the lowest price at the financial evaluation stage is considered the most responsive.
Price wise, Dalbit Petroleum Limited offered the best CIF Tazama Terminal price, followed by Agipol Africa and Oryx Oil.
The sources said Dalbit was poised to win the tender again subject to them passing the technical evaluation stage.
The sources also said nine companies successfully submitted bids for supply of comingled feedstock to the country for the next two years.
The sources said, for a price evaluation based on using option two of the feedstock combination – 65 per cent murban and 26 per cent gasoil and nice per cent naphuta – Gunvor Group of Switzerland offered the best CIF Dar es Salaam price followed by Addax of Gen?ve and Kobil of Kenya.
According to the sources, the price offered by Gunvor would lead to the country saving about US $40 million per 90, 000 metric tonne of feedstock cargo against the offer from its closest rival.

Zambianinquirer

TESTING FOR BUSINESS

 

ZAMBIA’s economy has been sabotaged by the banking sector due to the bank’s failure to inject enough liquidity in circulation as a result of higher interest rates, observes the Consumer Unity Trust Society (CUTS) International.

Commenting on BoZ Governor Caleb Fundanga’s concern over low competition in the banking sector, CUTS International Zambia acting coordinator Simon Ng’ona said commercial banks are the only variable that appears not to be responding to the much talked about improved and sustained macroeconomic environment in Zambia.

“For instance, inflation has remained in the single digit rates and this should influence a reduction in some of the charges in the sector beyond what is pertaining, irrespective of the alleged high commercial bank operational costs,” Ng’ona said.

“Real and nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been growing on the back of a relatively constant velocity of circulation meaning that money supply is supposed to increase proportionally.

However, one is tempted to say banks have to some extent sabotaged the economy due to their failure to inject enough liquidity in circulation due to high interest rates making the whole phenomena a paradox.”

He challenged the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) and the Competition Commission to diagnose the bottlenecks that halt the progressive realisation of the fruits associated with a healthy banking sector.

“Once bottlenecks are identified, remedial measures must be undertaken to redress the situation and there is need to crack down exploitative and possible looming exploitative or abusive behaviour which retard effective competition,” Ng’ona said.

He said when analysing the status of competition using the number of players, now 18 banks, as a variable to measure, one is tempted to conclude and rationally assume that there is competition in the banking sector in Zambia.

“However, to get a clear understanding on whether effective competition has ensued or not, it will also be good to analyse the sector by looking at two variables namely, price and non-price competition.

Analysing the latter, it is evident from recent data and seminal reports released that there have been a proliferation of banks and banking products and services such as ATMs, mobile banking, among other products, which on one hand steers non price-competition,” said Ng’ona.

“However, the source of worry has remained with the pricing structure of these services which hinge on the price competition variable.”

FINANCE minister Situmbeko Musokotwane says the country has a backlog
of infrastructure development that needs to be addressed immediately.

Musokotwane said in interview that the government was unable to find
money to offset the backlog that had characterised almost all the
towns in the country hence the move to channel mining taxes towards
infrastructure.

He justified the government’s move to use the money that it would
recover from First Quantum Minerals in unpaid mining taxes for
developing infrastructure in the country.

“We had no confidence that the money would come from the mines. Now
that they will pay us, the money from FQM will go to infrastructure
development because we all know that we have a backlog in terms of
infrastructure,” Musokotwane said.

He said the money would be used to build roads and improve existing
infrastructure in the country.

He said infrastructure was important to any country as it also played
an important role in the economy.

FQM would start paying tax arrears to the Zambian government after an
agreement was reached on new tax measures that were introduced in
2008.

In 2008 the government introduced new tax measures for the mines which
included among them increasing mineral royalty from 0.6 per cent to 3
per cent and company tax from 25 per cent to 30 per cent a move that
mining firms opposed.

However, Musokotwane recently announced that the government and the
mining companies had reached an agreement for mining firms to start
paying the tax in arrears.

He said FQM would pay the government US $224 million most of which he
said would be used for infrastructure development.

Musokotwane was reacting to concerns raised by civil society
organisations over the use of funds on projects that were not budgeted
for.

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