The government of Zambia has allocated US $20m to construct a new State House based on 2017 recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Works and Supply.
Housing and Infrastructure Development Minister Ronald Chitotela confirmed the reports and said the Parliament Committe saw an urgent need for the government to commence modalities to construct a new state house in view of security concerns.
Minister Ronald Chitotela pointed out that the current state house building had developed cracks and was, therefore deemed dangerous to the President and State House members of staff.
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The new State House
The new State House was designed by renowned British architect Sir Walcot also famous for designing government buildings in South Africa. It will offer several other facilities lacking in the current structure and lead to massive savings on the hire of space and services. The project will be done in a transparent manner, stressing that the construction will be done under strict measures to involve only a few stakeholders; such as his ministry, the contractor and the Office of the President, for security reasons.
Following the committee’s observations recommended for the building of a new State House, it large enough to cater for state functions. The budget of the new state house was provided in 2017 but construction never took place and there is no explanation on where that allocation was channeled to.
Meanwhile the government is currently constructing a new Government House (Official residence for the vice president) in Lusaka. Construction started early last year but has however been kept secret after the 2017 proposal to construct a new State House was widely condemned as a bad priority.
