MILK PROCESSING PLANT OPENS BY JUNE

By Machona Kasambala:

Fisheries and Livestock Minister Nkandu Luo says the Mbala milk processing plant will start operating by the end of June this year.

Professor Luo who assured farmers in Mbala says this follows the termination of the contract for a named contractor that had abandoned works on the project causing it to stall for about 5 years despite being paid.

She says the Ministerial Procurement Committee decided to terminate the contract and pursue recovery of the money from the contractor to complete the works at the milk processing plant.

The minister says the contractor has been blacklisted and her ministry has already engaged another contractor to complete the remaining works at the plant.

Professor Luo was speaking in Mbala when she inspected the milk processing plant during her continued tour of duty to assess the status of livestock infrastructure in Northern and Muchinga provinces.

And Mbala District Commissioner Maybin Chibalange said the people have waited for too long for an assurance from the government when the milk processing plant will be finally operational.

Mr Chibalange said the livestock farmers have already received dairy cattle from government and have been milking their cows in readiness for the operationalisation of the milk processing plant but the project has stalled since 2018.

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