KCM ownership no matter as long as benefits from its operati

[bingogo]

Friday, 26 Nov 2010
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It is reported that Konkola Copper Mine ownership does not matter as long as benefits from its operations do not trickle down and benefit the ordinary citizens, particularly people in surrounding areas.

Dr Joseph Katema opposition lawmaker said that KCM, a unit of Vedanta Resources Plc’s plans to list its shares on London and Lusaka Bourse does not matter but its operations should trickle down to the ordinary citizens who should benefit from its presence.

Recently Vedanta Resources announced its plans to list KCM, through its holding company Konkola Resources Plc on the London Stock Exchange through an Initial Public Offer and later consider listing about 25% on Lusaka stock exchange, a move that is expected to benefit about 9,000 employees through the broadened ownership.

However, Dr Katema contended that although the decision was good for the company as it has gone on an international platform and make its business operations public, it was important that the ordinary people benefit from its existence.

Dr Katema said that our only hope is that even their corporate social responsibility should grow accordingly because over and above, this idea of CSR depends on the whims of KCM and this should not be the ideal situation since the ideal situation is for companies like KCM to pay sufficient taxes and this MMD government should not have taken away the windfall taxes because that was a surest way for people to benefit from the profits accrued to KCM.

He said that so there is not much excitement to Chingola residents per se because it is not important who owns KCM; whether it is owned by Zambian nationals or not, the ultimate goal is that those companies should pay taxes and government eventually provide services to the citizenry what is material is ultimately to have a windfall tax regime that will enable government to provide services to its citizenry that’s the bottom line. The contribution by KCM towards annual production of one million tonnes of copper by Zambia should not compromise on the environmental safety and people’s lives.

Dr Katema said that you are aware of the recent pollution of Kafue River and to date, we have not heard of what really transpired and measures put in place so the incident doesn’t recur. So it is not enough to dance around that we are going to reach one million tonnes of copper production but we should also be careful not to pollute or kill off the goose that lays the golden egg, who are the Zambian people.

He said that government has not come out openly on preventive measures on this continued pollution by KCM despite ECZ getting the samples, whose results have not been made public. Recently KCM disposed some effluent to seep into the Kafue River and affected more than 20,000 people that depend on the water for their living.

Ms Jacquiline Kabeta KCM head of corporate affairs said that investigations into the preg tank that happened at the Nchanga Integrated Business Unit of KCM and it was confirmed that it was an isolated spill that escaped into the the Kafue River resulting in the pollution of the water used by Chingola residents and others in surrounding areas.

After investigations by a combined team of experts including officials from Mulongwa Water Supply Company and KCM safety and environment specialists toured the Tailings Leach Plant where the leak took place it was noted that water had been polluted forcing the water utility to shut the taps for days.

Nkana Water and Sewerage Company had temporarily suspended water supply to its customers following reports of raw water contamination in the Kafue River in Chingola.

Ms Diana Makwaba company official said that preliminary investigations had shown that the pH was normal. Following reports of raw water pollution in the Kafue River in Chingola, we carried out preliminary investigations to establish the downstream impact of the said pollution on the raw water in Kitwe and the preliminary investigations have shown that the pH is normal.