6 October 2009
THE Government is currently upgrading four unplanned settlements in Lusaka, Local Government and Housing Deputy Minister Lwipa Puma has said.
Dr Puma said yesterday in Lusaka during the World Habitat Day cerebrations that Kalikiliki, Ng'ombe, Garden and Chaisa were being upgraded to reduce man-made disasters and water borne diseases like cholera,.
He said to accelerate the achievement of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number seven, there was need to improve the living conditions of the people in unplanned urban settlements.
Dr Puma lamented that the task of upgrading settlements was not an easy one because more funding was needed hence, the need to stop the mushrooming of unplanned settlements.
As a long-term solution, the Government had approved the upgrading of peri-urban areas or unplanned settlements to improve the living standards of the people.
He said Kalikiliki, Ng'ombe, Garden and Chaisa were among the unplanned settlements already undergoing legalised and upgrading to address the problem of safe drinking water and proper sanitation.
United Nations (UN) representative, Noureddin Mona who is Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) country coordinator said urban poor people needed improved tenure and access to land.
Dr Mona said UN-Habitat would provide capacity building, research and knowledge management and exchange in the fight against unplanned settlements.
Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company manager George N'dongwe said his company has injected K10 billion in a water and sanitation project.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
