Wednesday, August 29, 2012

MP sees Sioma Falls as WP power source

MP sees Sioma Falls as WP power source
By Edwin Mbulo in Shangombo
Wed 29 Aug. 2012, 10:11 CAT

SINJEMBELA member of parliament Njulu Poniso says the Ngonye-Sioma Falls in Shangombo has the capacity to produce electricity for the whole Western Province. And tourism and arts minister Sylvia Masebo has appealed to the Shangombo community to approach the government through the district commissioner's office to see how they can source funds for various programmes.

During the launch of infrastructure development of Ngonye-Sioma Falls by Masebo, Poniso appealed to the government to consider building a hydro-electric power station at the Ngonye-Sioma Falls in Sioma.

"Power can be generated from the Sioma Falls, the district accommodates power lines to the province but has no electric power. We request the government to consider building a power station here for us to have power," said Poniso.

Zambia has a huge hydro-power capacity considering the abundance of its water resources but lacks investments in the industry due to their costly nature.

So far, the government has planned to develop mini-hydro stations across the country to increase generation capacity to mitigate load shedding brought about by increasing demand for power.

And Masebo said the major problem between the people and the government was lack of communication on how they can source government funds.

"The PF government and I personally will work with you as I have seen that you have the initiative to help yourselves. Until we jointly start educating communities that the natural resources do not belong to President Michael Sata, Masebo or Zawa but that these belong to the communities, we will not conserve them," she said.

Meanwhile, Induna Inandunko of Sitoti village in Shangombo said the PF's aim to eliminate poverty through tourism and arts showed that its government was for the people.

Mulala Mubita Kamutumwa said the launch of the infrastructure development programme to the Ngonye-Sioma Falls was an eye-opener and that it did not come by chance.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Shangombo resident fears hunger after elephants raid crops

Shangombo resident fears hunger after elephants raid crops
By Namatama Mundia
Tue 19 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

A Shangombo resident is worried that there will be increased food insecurity in the area because of the destruction of crops by elephants.

One of the villagers, Moses Ilukena wondered if the villagers would harvest anything after the animals destroyed crops in people’s fields.

“We have a problem here in Shangombo. These elephants which are coming from Sioma-Ngwezi National Park have invaded our fields and destroyed our crops. We don’t know how we are going to survive,” he said. “I can foresee a situation where there will be serious hunger in most areas in the district.”

Ilukena said it was unfortunate that the Zambia Wildlife Association (ZAWA) had not done anything despite the matter being reported to them.
“We have reported to ZAWA but they haven’t done anything. They (ZAWA) only came to the area when a crocodile killed a 12-year-old boy three weeks ago but unfortunately, they didn’t find it,” he said.

Ilukena said Hippos from the Zambezi River had also destroyed crops.
“Last year we had the same problem of animals destroying our crops. They grazed in our fields and unfortunately we struggled throughout the year because the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) people have been without food up to now and the situation might be the same next year,” said Ilukena.

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