Tue, 27 Jun 2017 12:00:28 +0000
… LCC puts up different notices for the construction of Kalundu shopping mall
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
ATTEMPTS to backdate notices by the Lusaka City Council (LCC) and Shumeite Investment Limited to try and conceal underhand methods employed in the construction of a four-storey shopping mall in Kalundu residential area has backfired.
The two have differed on the two notices to the public which were never published in the media.
Two notices said to have been issued by the Town Clerk Alex Mwansa but with different dates calling for written submissions from the public on the construction of a mall have now been posted side by side with the first one running from June 5 to July 4, 2017 while the latest one indicating that the period for submission expired on March 10, 2017. Speaking after a meeting with the director of planning at the council, Godwin Chinoya yesterday, Kalundu residents’ spokesperson Namwinga Sichula told the Daily Nation that the council had distanced itself from the latest notice, saying it was not even aware that there were two notices at the premises.
When contacted for a comment over the meeting with the residents and the two notices, Mr. Chinoya said he was not in a position to issue a statement.
However, Shumeite Investment Limited representative Chris Chisupe said the two notices were issued by the council but admitted that none of them came out in the press as the person who was handling the issue from their side had messed up the process before he left. “If you look at our documents, you will realise that the process started some time back. Of course we were given that notice by the council but it was not formalised as the person handling the matter messed up the process and the notice did not come out in the press and so, we had to start all over and try to clean the mess he had created,” Mr. Chisupe said.
Asked which notice the public should follow since there were disparities on the dates as the other one had already expired, Mr. Chisupe said the most important thing was that the firm was given a go-ahead by the council to commence construction works.
Kalundu residents have declared war with the Chinese investor who is building a mall in the residential area without a ZEMA environmental assessment report, clearance from the National Council for Construction (NCC) and any expression of interest from members of the public.
When the residents questioned the council how it allowed Shumeite to build a mall in a residential area without, among other things, giving an opportunity to the public to express themselves over the change of use from residential to commercial, the council allegedly generated a notice running from June 5 to July 4, 2017.
The new notice however purports that a 30-day period for the public to make submissions ran from February 9 to March 10, 2017 and was allegedly pitched five days ago next to the earlier one stuck on the wall
