Today President Banda leaves for China on a state visit in response to an invitation from that country’s head of state.
This event will mark the third encounter in the last seven years between Zambia’s head of state and the leadership of China.
The first recent encounter was the state visit of Late President Mwanawasa to China in 2003 which was later reciprocated by a state visit to Zambia by President Hu Jintao and his entourage during his African tour of 2007.
The net impact of the two encounters was a pledge by President Hu Jintao for China to slash Zambia’s debt by 8 million dollars, invest around 800 million dollars in the Chambishi Economic Zone, build two rural schools, construct a hospital for malaria treatment, and the building of a new football stadium in Ndola.
Slowly the pledges are crystallizing into implemented projects but the impact on national development is too small for such a significant partnership with the world’s largest exporter of goods and services.
Zambia may be third time lucky if today’s visit can be strategically arranged to put Zambia’s key development hurdles on the agenda in Beijing.
China is the world’s biggest developer of hydro electric power stations. Zambia has lost its competitive advantage of being a country that is self sufficient in electricity at relatively low tariffs. In order to address this situation Zambia can negotiate with China to develop the vast hydro electricity potential across the country. This sector requires investments in the order of around 6 billion dollars. The higher production of electricity in Zambia will enable the country not only to steer away from the use of petrol and diesel for industry and transport, with surplus electricity being marketed to the neighbouring countries. This would be a useful engagement with China in an effort to invest in the future of Zambia’s economy and address the energy requirements of the growing Chinese investments in the mining and steel sectors.
China has the world’s widest railway network and boasts the cutting edge Mag Lev shuttle train which floats on a magnetic track at speeds of up to 480kms per hour. Zambia can dialogue with China on a program to overhaul and resuscitate the defunct operations of our railway network such that a meaningful investment is made into the rail transport sector. If the Zambian railway system can be made to operate efficiently, many of the huge trucks carrying cargo on our roads today can be eliminated and the lifespan of our roads can be extended probably by another 10 years. In addition, both India and China use rail transport to move people across the country in a very extensive way thereby making it the number one choice for cost effective travel.
China has a very successful track record in the agriculture sector and therefore can be a very useful partner in bringing Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia back to life. Food security is a key aspect of state sovereignty. With China’s support Zambia can make food security and food surplus a living reality as fertilisers and other inputs are efficiently manufactured at NCZ.
The plight of Mulungushi Textiles in Kabwe should be addressed during the state visit so that the company can secure re-investment and Kabwe can begin to convert Zambia’s cotton into finished products for both domestic consumption and export.
Imports from the south are brought to a slow pace due to the cumbersome operation of the pontoon at Kazangula which connects Zambia to Botswana. The solution is to build an all weather heavy duty bridge that will support the high volume of traffic between the two countries. There again, is an opportunity for Zambia and China to do some good infrastructure development work that will support the growing economy.
Tourism is high on the agenda in Zambia’s development program. In order for tourism to really deliver it is necessary to build proper airports that will allow tourists to fly into Mansa, Siavonga, and along Lake Tanganyika in the Northern Province. Airports that can handle commercial aircraft flying in from South Africa and other neighbouring countries will escalate the tourism traffic into the country. Airports not only provide efficient access into the country, but also provide quick access to the tourism sites across the country.
The state visit to China can either be one that the President and his entourage have great time eating, drinking and seeing good things, or it can be a strategic series of discussions and negotiations that will ultimately bring useful development investments into Zambia.
Hopefully, the President and his team will focus on the latter. Hopefully the state visit to China will be third time lucky wherein the best interests of Zambia are not only focussed upon, but tangible results will be seen by the people of Zambia in the near future.
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