By Vincent Khonje

Kasungu, Mana: Vice President, Dr Saulos Chilima, who is responsible for  Public Sector Reforms on Tuesday met Kasungu District and Municipal Councils to see the progress on reforms.

The meeting was aimed at reviewing the reform areas that the councils promised to undertake during the previous engagements.

The Vice President visited two reform projects for Kasungu District Council.

The reform projects visited were neo-natal ward at Kasungu District Hospital (KDH) and an urbanization project called Chinkhoma Planning Area where there is a market, residential and commercial plots and an industrial site.

Chilima said he was impressed with what he has seen at KDH as well as Chinkhoma.

He said the refurbished neo-natal section which has modern beds and equipment is working well in reducing neo-natal deaths and the Chinkhoma Planning Area seems to be on course.

“The number of deaths have reduced to 10 percent and the council is chasing a lower number and that is a good story for the hospital,”

“The Chinkhoma urbanization project is pretty much in line with MW2063 pillar number three,” the Vice President said.

The Pillar talks of having world-class urban centers and tourism hubs across the country, with requisite modern socio-economic amenities.

Kasungu District Council has been given a tick-off on four reform areas which include those in the health and environment sectors.

The Urbanization project, according to Chilima, was on course however it will be considered an achievement until all the plots have been developed and the project becomes a stand-alone initiative.

He hailed Kasungu municipal council and while acknowledging massive opportunities that the council would explore the council has been affected by challenges because of the nature of layout at the council.

Chilima said the council has made some strides in many areas.

“They are looking at a new bus terminal, they have done well in waste management by buying a refuse disposal truck and they have also bought a fire engine so that they offer good services to the citizens,” the Vice President added.

However, both councils have fallen short on the issue of financial sustainability and Chilima said the challenge left with them is to see how they can quickly come up with initiatives to boost their revenue collection and create new revenue streams.

Reforms for the councils in financial sustainability were affected by COVID-19 pandemic which saw revenue generation initiatives took a tumble.

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