Government asks China for funds to complete new university

Zambia has asked China to expedite a US$255 million loan to finish construction of a university named after its second president, Frederick Chiluba, according to local news sources.

The university build was launched in 2013 and at the time the government planned to name the institution Luapula University. However, in 2016 President Edgar Lungu renamed it the Frederick Jacob Titus (FJT) Chiluba University on the grounds that the late leader was the “father of democracy”, having overseen the re-introduction of democracy in Zambia.

National debt levels

The government’s decision to ask for the loan comes months after its treasury announced it was no longer borrowing externally to manage national debt, which critics said was reaching crisis levels. Days after that announcement, however, Lungu was reported to have met the Chinese ambassador and announced that Chinese projects were not covered under the new loan measures.

A report in July last year carried by the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation said the government was expecting funding for the FJT Chiluba University to be transferred from the Industrial Development Bank of Zambia.

According to Zambian investigative news site Diggers, in a letter dated 21 April 2020 written by Zambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Joe Malanji to China’s ambassador to Zambia, Li Jie, the government asked the envoy to expedite the state loan to ensure the timely construction of the university at two sites: Kasama and Mansa.

The minister said government had released 15% of the total contract sum to fulfil one of the conditions of releasing the loan.

“As you may be aware, the Zambian government has cancelled or re-scoped all externally financed infrastructure projects as a measure to restore the country’s debt to sustainable levels. However, government has decided to proceed to implement the FJT Chiluba University project in Mansa and Kasama,” he is reported to have written.

The Zambian minister said the FJT Chiluba University’s school of medicine was important in fighting COVID-19.

In December 2017, University World News reported that an environmental and social impact assessment report for the project estimated that construction would be concluded before 2020.

“The university will be constructed at a cost of US$110 million and will accommodate 1,500 students … With regards to the location the preference for the current location was arrived at due to availability and/or scarcity of land. Chief Nkolenfumu offered 400 hectares for construction of the university despite the university needing only 120 hectares,” reads the report.

Equitable access to higher education

It said due to the unprecedented number of government high schools constructed across the country over the past few years, the objective of the construction of FJT Chiluba University and other similar projects is to increase equitable access to quality tertiary education and skills training.

“The aim … is to … hand over to government through the Ministry of Education before the year 2020 and help cushion the ever-growing student population in the country,” the environmental and social impact assessment report said.

According to the report, prior to independence in 1964, Zambia (then known as Northern Rhodesia) had only 100 African university graduates, 1,500 Zambians with school certificates and only 6,000 in junior secondary education. This posed a challenge in terms of human resource for development, resulting in government engaging in reforms and construction projects that have seen the total student enrolment in public universities increase from 7,933 in 2008 to 59,272 in 2015.

The report said the government continues to attach great importance to higher education and is committed to building at least one university in each province.

A report published last year by the Chr Michelsen Institute, an independent development research institute in Norway, said Zambia is among countries in which China is the biggest single creditor and a major provider of finance for development. It said the African country borrowed heavily in recent years and is now at high risk of debt distress, but the Chinese are not the main culprits for the looming debt crisis.

It said Zambia’s external public debt has risen dramatically in recent years, particularly since 2012. According to official figures, the debt had reached US$9.4 billion by mid-2018.