THE Government has bemoaned the non-participation of the public in the planning process of cities and hopes that the new urban and regional planning legislation will address the shortcomings.

Local Government and Housing Minister Benny Tetamashimba said the Town and Country Planning Act had not addressed the challenge of public participation in the planning process. Mr Tetamashimba was speaking when he received the draft urban and regional planning Bill from the Swedish embassy in Lusaka yesterday.

The process to review the two pieces of legislation was launched on February 14, 2007 with the technical and logistical support from the Swedish government through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

In a speech read for him by Local Government and Housing Deputy Minister Crispin Musosha, Mr Tetamashimba said he anticipated that the new laws would address issues of reducing the multiplicity of actors in the planning process.

"The draft Bill will among others, address the issue of public participation in the planning process and framework," Mr Tetamashimba said. He said that so far, presentation of the draft Bill to Cabinet and its circulation to the ministries had been done and that soon it would be presented to the Ministry of Justice for parliamentary processes.

At the same occasion, Charge' d'affaires at the embassy of Sweden, Charlotta Norrby said that the actual process of reviewing the two pieces of legislation started in 2005 and was happy that the draft Bill was ready.

Ms Norrby said the new law would replace the colonial-era town and country planning Act and would, therefore, require a new mind-set from members of the public.

"The most important features of this Act is the provision of secure tenure for the lawful residents of informal settlements as the basis for longer term social and economic development," Ms Norrby said.