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(Special for CAFS) Cooperating partners hail Zambia's infrastructure development initiatives

Xinhua, February 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cooperating partners on Friday commended the Zambian government for its infrastructure project initiatives, especially in rural parts of the country, saying it will spur economic development.

A delegation of cooperating partners from the German and Chinese embassies, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNICEF) and the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) that visited various projects in Kaoma district in western Zambia, expressed gratitude over the level of infrastructure development embarked on by the government.

The delegation, which also toured refugee and local integration projects within and around a refugee settlement, Mayukwayukwa, also handed over a 200 KVA generator to a new school in the district donated by the German Embassy worth 63, 000 U.S. dollars, according to a statement emailed to Xinhua by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Gudrun Haider, an official from the German Embassy, said infrastructure was key to fostering development in rural areas.

"Such initiatives from the government to develop infrastructure in rural areas is worth praising. The school here is important because it does not benefit Zambians, but refugees and former refugees as well. This donation of a generator is a gesture of the Federal Republic of Germany to help the government of Zambia to ensure this school runs smoothly," she said.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy donated 10, 000 Zambian Kwacha for the purchase of text books for the school that was constructed by a Chinese contractor, added the statement.

Laura Lo Castor, the head of the refugee agency in Zambia called on the Zambian government and cooperating partners to provide more support to refugee-hosting areas to enhance peaceful coexistence between host communities, former refugees and refugees, especially in light of the implementation of a local integration program for some former refugees into the Zambian community.

Mayukwayukwa is one of Zambia's largest refugee settlements and has hosted thousands of refugees over the years. The Zambian government and the UNHCR are currently implementing an integration program for some of the former refugees from Angola and Rwanda who want to settle in Zambia. Endi