4 November 2009
THE forestry department in Chipata has surrendered 70 hectares of land in Moth area to the local authority to be used for the expansion of the town in its quest to meet some of the benchmarks in the attainment of the city status.
Recently, Paramount Chief Mpezeni of the Ngoni people and two other chiefs, Kapatamoyo and Chinyaku signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the local authority to give part of their traditional land to the council for the expansion.
Chipata Town Clerk Golden Banda said yesterday that the vast land would be given out to individuals and companies to put up modern infrastructure that would add impetus for city status campaign.
He said Chipata had a population of more than 450,000 people, which exceeded what other cities had in the country.
Mr Banda said a number of investors had in the past shown interest to invest in Chipata but could not do so due lack of land for major development.
In the past efforts were made to relocate Chipata Golf Course which is situated in the heart of the town centre to pave way for the construction of a five star hotel on the site.
He said although the move was blocked by those who argued that the golf course was a national heritage site that could not be relocated to another area, he still shared the same opinion with predecessor Bernard Siwakwi that the course should be relocated.
Mr Banda said lack of modern infrastructure were some of the hindrances in the attainment of the city status.
Mr Banda also clarified that the local authority had not yet identified any land where to build a dry port to ease the transportation of goods from the Chipata-Mchinji Rail Line.
It was envisaged that with the current of development taking place in Chipata especially with the completion of the Chipata-Mchinji Rail Line, land would be scarce.
Last week, Protea Hotel announced at a cocktail party held at Mama Rulas Lodge in that it would start the construction of a two storey 40 bedroom hotel which would cost between K15 billion and K20 billion next year.
Protea Hotel manager Mauro Gaurdigi said the new hotel would support the tourisim industry in Chipata.
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