Ministry tips councils on public projects designing

Ministry of Finance and Economic  Affair director of development planning Emma Mabvumbe has advised councils to adopt the complete service package model when designing projects to ensure that built structures become functional immediately after completion.

She said when project components are constructed in isolation, the result is that structures stay idle for long periods awaiting the unfinished components; hence, defeating the project objective of improving service delivery.

Mabvumbe made the remarks in Kasungu District on Wednesday when she led a team from the ministry and National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) to monitor projects under the World Bank-funded Governance to Enable Service Delivery (Gesd).

She said when planning for projects, the design should ensure that all facilities needed under that project are planned and budgeted for.

“If you are building a health centre, you also need to plan for staff houses, water, furniture, electricity toilets and all other necessary facilities that would make the health centre functional,” said Mabvumbe.

Her advice was in reaction to the idle state of some of the structures constructed under the Gesd project which are yet to become functional because they lack supporting infrastructure such as staff houses, toilets and furniture.

NLGFC senior planning officer Charity Kaunda echoed Mabvumbe’s sentiments, saying councils should not aim at erecting more structures, but they should think of puttinghave everything needed to function.

Since the inception of the Gesd project in 2021, Kasungu District Council has received close to K3.7 billion in performance-based grants under the project.

The funds have largely been used to finance various projects such as market sheds, health facilities, bridges, extension offices—some of which are not yet functional.

Kasungu District Council director of public works Davie Chigwenembe said this year’s tranche of funds will go towards purchasing of support items that will help the already completed structures open for use.