‘Govt lacks political will on private sector development’
Written by Kabanda Chulu
Thursday, September 03, 2009 12:28:40 AM
CIVIL Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) executive director Patrick Mucheleka yesterday accused the government of not showing political will through passing of ‘piecemeal legislation’ towards the implementation of the private sector development (PSD) reform programmes.
But agriculture minister Brian Chituwo said Mcheleka’s assertions were out of context and said the government is committed to the reforms that will result in the private sector spearheading economic development.
After the official launch of the phase two of the PSD reform programme in Lusaka, Mucheleka told the ministers and officials present at the event that there was no political will because the government was talking about reforms but at the same time formulating laws that would slow down the flow of investments.
“For investors to come or even local ones, for them to invest, firstly they have to read the political landscape. For instance, which investor can be willing to invest in the media industry looking at the proposed state regulation, yes PSD reforms are good but there is no political will and they are bound to fail,” said Mucheleka. “Because you cannot reform on one hand and on the other you want to suppress institutions (civil society and media) that play a major component in the reform process. In fact, for people to invest they rely on divergent views in society but this will not be possible with what is currently obtaining on the ground.”
In response, Dr Chituwo said political will had always been there and that the government had shown commitment as results were visible in many sectors.
“These assertions are made out of context because since we started private sector reforms, there has been a reduction in the cost of doing business. Even the media industry is thriving and making profits and creating jobs because of these same reforms being implemented by government,” said Dr Chituwo.
And PSD co-chairperson Evans Chibiliti said there was need to deepen dialogue and turn it into practical matters.
“Notable failures are due to lack of implementation and we need to put in practice what we talk about,” said Chibiliti.
The phase two of the PSD reforms was jointly launched by commerce minister Felix Mutati and lands minister Peter Daka.
Labels: BRIAN CHITUWO, CSPR, PATRICK MUCHELEKA, PSD
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PSD bemoans lack of legal monitoring body for PPP projects
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Friday September 19, 2008 [04:00]
THE Private Sector Development (PSD) has noted that projects under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) have not performed to expectation due to lack of a legal framework for monitoring and implementation.
PSD coordinator for the PPP Working Group Muondela Mukele also said the biggest challenge being faced in the synchronisation of public-private efforts in infrastructure development was the balance between commercial interests of private investors and government’s need to provide social services.
Addressing journalists during a breakfast meeting in Lusaka yesterday, Mukele said lack of a legal framework has resulted in project implementation being tilted towards the private sector at the expense of public interest.
She however stressed that PPPs would help to resolve some of the challenges the country was facing in terms of infrastructure development.
Some of the PPP projects that have raised controversy in their implementation included the concessioned Railway System of Zambia (RSZ), Mpulungu Harbour, the newly constructed Kamwala and Town Centre markets, both in Lusaka.
“The generally accepted standards are that, PPP projects, be it, BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) are supposed to be between 15 to 30 years but for some unknown reasons, some of the agreements are for 65 years…but of course I can’t give a comprehensive statement on the matter because we have not yet looked at those contracts,” Mukele said. “But those are some of the things we are looking at. So far, one of our achievements has been the drafting of the PPP policy document which is before Cabinet and also the drafted Bill which is under the Ministry of Justice.”
Mukele however noted that the PSD had not yet done an evaluation of the implementation of projects that were currently under PPP, but stressed that the legal framework that was being worked on would enhance transparency and improve efficiency.
Labels: PPPs, PSD
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PSD findings near conclusion
By By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Saturday August 09, 2008 [04:00]
THE Business Licensing Reform programme committee of (PSD) will conclude its findings by November this year in readiness for submission in next year’s national budget, chairperson Eva Jhala said on Thursday. And Jhala observed that most local authorities in the country are currently collecting revenue that is far below the economic activities in their respective areas. Addressing a Lusaka Press Club-organised media breakfast at Hotel Intercontinental yesterday, Jhala also reiterated that the country still had a number of “nuisance” licences that were working against attracting growth in business activities.
“As the Business Licensing Reform programme of Private Sector Development (PSD), we are looking at concluding our part by November this year,” Jhala said. “We are hoping that some of our recommendations would be taken through in next year’s budget.
No one of us wants to work in an over-regulated environment and currently Zambia is over-regulated... we should start talking about deregulating the regulators because if we cut down on the bureaucracy of doing business, then we will be reducing on the opportunities for corruption.”
And Jhala said there was need to streamline the decentralise programme in the country to strengthen the linkages between central and local government.
She also said there was need to reduce the participation of the local councils in licencing of business and that council should only do it on behalf of the Patents and Companies Registration Office (PACRO).
“There is need to reconcile the money councils are collecting and the business activities happening in their districts,” said Jhala. “We need to streamline their operations because at the moment most of the money being collected on behalf of the councils is being lost through corruption.”
Labels: COUNCILS, LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PSD
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PSD-RP should reduce cost of doing business, says Mutati
By Joan Chirwa in Chisamba
Saturday December 15, 2007 [03:00]
GOVERNMENT and the private sector must move away from mere talk and work towards implementation of programmes, commerce minister Felix Mutati has said. And Mutati said reducing the cost of doing business and the transformation of Zambians should be the main goal of the Private Sector Development Reform Programme (PSD-RP). Meanwhile, Mutati has announced that the government would mid next year commission the Pan African Bank on the local market.
In his keynote address to the PSD-RP mid-term review conference in Chisamba on Thursday, Mutati said the people of Zambia were tired of rhetoric and were hungry for results from projects being undertaken in the country.
Mutati said the effective implementation of the programmes under PSD could only be done if stakeholders stayed away from conversational reforms.
“We must abandon this system of capacity building because we have been doing this since 1964. We are just going round and round having the same conversations we have had in the past instead of getting down to real business and implementing programmes,” Mutati said.
He also said the current work of the PSD-RP should focus on reducing the cost of doing business in the country while transforming the lives of entrepreneurs.
“We need to transform into output. We must ensure that at the end of the PSD-RP, the cost of doing business will be reduced and the lives of Zambians will be transformed,” he said.
Mutati further said the government had set a number of targets for next year, among them the opening of the Pan African Bank in the country.
He said the government expected to double its investments at the end of next year from US$1.4 billion to over US$3 billion as a result of the targeted huge investments coming into the country in 2008.
“We are targeting to double the amount of investments to US$3 billion in 2008,” Mutati said. “In January next year, we will have five major projects that we will sign off. Among them are the Kafue Smelter, we will sign off a new cement manufacturing factory, a transformer and electricity metre manufacturing factory. The other one is the Pan African Bank which will be coming in Zambia in April next year.”
Mutati said the expected investments on the local market are likely to increase the number of job opportunities in the country.
“We are hoping to create at least 100,000 new jobs as a minimum target through these investments expected next year,” Mutati said.
He further said the private sector must partner with the government to develop certain areas that could assist in reducing the cost of doing business.
“Infrastructure is one key area that needs attention. Why can’t the private sector work with the government in identifying key infrastructure that needs to be worked on such as roads?” Mutati asked. “Infrastructure remains key to the growth of businesses in any country. We need to reduce transportation costs by working on our roads. We also need to manage pillars that support private sector growth such as inflation levels, foreign exchange rate and the cost of money.”
The PSD-RP was endorsed in 2004 with its primary objectives of achieving significant reduction in the cost of doing business while making it easy for people to start growing their businesses.
There is only a year remaining before the programme winds up, and donor agencies have expressed concern at the slow implementation of the project.
Labels: FELIX MUTATI, PSD
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Middeldorp calls for creation of conducive business environment
By Chibaula Silwamba
Thursday December 06, 2007 [03:00]
A CONDUCIVE environment for starting and growing business is the only sustainable way to increase wealth for Zambians, Netherlands Ambassador to Zambia Eduard Middeldorp has advised. And deputy Secretary to the Cabinet in charge of finance and economic development Likolo Ndalamei said the changes in laws, regulations and policies related to business environment must be coupled with administrative changes.
Speaking on behalf of cooperating partners at the semi-annual review meeting of the Private Sector Development (PSD) programme in Lusaka on Tuesday, Ambassador Middeldorp said pursuing middle income status, which Zambia was pursuing, required a much smoother business environment without any unnecessary hurdles.
“The recent edition of the Doing Business report by the World Bank concludes that Zambia’s performance deteriorated relative to its competitors. The statistics do not show improvements, except for maybe the indicator for closing a business,” Ambassador Middeldorp observed.
“This type of business environment is not good enough for Zambia to grow towards a middle income status and attain ‘broad- based wealth and job creation.’ In addition, it is not good enough to attract investment, which is constantly ‘shopping’ for better places to do business.”
He urged the government to facilitate access to essential services such as finance, labour, land, electricity, telecommunication and fuel. Ambassador Middeldorp said integrating the Financial Sector Development Plan into the PSD could have dramatic impact on business costs.
“Let us remember that although lending rates are coming down, they remain second highest in the sub region,” he said.
He said the poor quality of infrastructure and high cost of fuel and telecommunication stifled economic growth.
“Fuel costs are the second in the sub region; high mobile prices in costs which are second highest in sub-Saharan Africa, and lowest access to Internet, fixed and mobile phones,” Ambassador Middeldorp said. “These constraints deter new businesses and stifle existing ones.”
And Ndalamei said the private sector expected the cost of doing business to be reduced once the PSD became operational. Ndalamei said that would in turn increase the businesses starting in Zambia and create more jobs.
And Finish Ambassador to Zambia Sinikka Antila said Finland was committed to supporting the PSD. She said supporting the growth of the private sector was one of the key bilateral ties between Finland and Zambia.
“The private sector is very necessary to the alleviation of poverty and reaching the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals),” said Ambassador Antila.
Labels: PSD, SMEs
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