Privatisation nets K490bn

Privatisation nets K490bn
By Times Reporter

PARLIAMENT heard yesterday that a total of K490 billion was realised in gross proceeds from the privatisation process as at December 31 2006. Finance and National Planning Minister Ng’andu Magande said this in response to a question by Mapatizya Member of Parliament (MP) Ackson Sejani (UPND) who wanted to know how much money was realised from the entire privatisation exercise.

Mr Magande explained that the money realised in gross proceeds was K25.6 billion and US$109.75 million (adding up to K490 billion), while the net proceeds, after meeting employees’ terminal benefits and other liabilities, were K5.6 billion and $65.6 million.

The amounts were transferred to the Zambia Privatisation Revenue Account (PRA) managed by the ministry of Finance and National Planning and did not include proceeds from the sale of the defunct Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) assets. It was now up to the Government to decide what to do with the money within the alternatives provided for under the Privatisation Act. The Privatisation Act provides that such proceeds be used for financing the cost of the privatisation and the Privatisation Trust Fund (PTF) as well as expand existing productive capacities. “The Act also provides that the assets be used for rehabilitating existing plants, support new capital investments, fund the restructuring of State owned enterprises to be privatised and to fund any social project that will be in the interest of the public,” Mr Magande said. Some funds were utilised to meet the costs of the privatisation programme.

The cash included the employee obligations met at privatisation which stood at K7.259,342,027 and $5,197,681, credit obligations met on transactions at the same time at a cost of K5,794,290,976 and $13,327,820 respectively. He said privatisation expenses cost K1, 537,171,794 and $1,272,156 and that other utilisations met on transactions cost K560, 358,812 and $191,209. The amount still held in escrow and interim managers’ accounts and not yet transferred to the PRA was K258, 062,004 and amounts due from purchasers were K3, 393,500,000 and $3,652,931. He told the House that 262 State owned companies and units had been privatised as at December 31, 2006 while 22 more were currently under various stages in the privatisation process. The minister informed the House that Government owed K80.2 billion to 937 retirees and was working round the clock to offset the payment.

And Minister of Health Angela Cifire told the House that there was need for further research on the four herbal medicines under study to cure HIV/AIDS and that trials on 26 patients administered with the same remedies had been completed. The four herbs that qualified for research were the Mayeyin, Sondash formula, Mailacin and the Ngoma formula which could not be analysed because the owner died before commencement of the study. About K1, 400,415,000 was spent on fees for investigators, laboratory costs, participants’ upkeep allowances as well as administrative costs. No side effects were detected in the participants who were quarantined for about six months.