Zambia: Jeff Banda reveals studies for new State House’s construction process initiated

The Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development in Zambia is yet to choose a contractor for the construction of the new State house. Jeff Banda, the Ministry Spokesperson said that only feasibility studies for the construction process have been initiated.

Jeff Banda opined that the suggestion to construct a new state was proposed around three years ago by a parliamentary committee on infrastructure. The requirement to construct a new State House was demanded by calls from stakeholders that the state of the current one is old and lacking modern amenities.

According to Jeff Banda, the issue was not addressed in the last three years but there is an allocation in the allocation in the 2019 budget for the process to commence. The Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development Ronald Chitotela said that in 2016 parliament appointed a committee to assess the need to Construct a new State House. The mandate included the assessment of the structural integrity of the existing State House Buildings, as reported by Lusaka Times.

The committee physically inspected State House and their report showed that serious cracks have developed in the structure and that the existing State house built in 1932 for the then governor of Northern Rhodesia clearly has become both a safety and security danger, the minister added. The proposal to construct a new state house received overwhelming support from members of parliament as evidenced by the fact that MPs approved both the proposal to construct New state house and the 2019 Budget Line for its Construction.