Luanshya residents have have threatened to protest if Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company fails to supply water in two days time.  

Speaking to journalists yesterday, Committee on Water Crisis in Luanshya chairperson Poterious Chanda said the residents were tired of stories from Kafubu water. 

“We have obtained a police permit to protest the prolonged non supply of water by Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company. It is a resolve by the residents. So within two days starting from today, if they don’t supply water, its protests, massive ones,” Chanda said. 

“The office of the Luanshya mayor has engaged us and given us this opportunity to first see what Kafubu is doing before we could go ahead and protest. So we have seen what is going on here and we must say that there is political will. The problem is that Kafubu has not communicated with us. But we are happy that they have given us three days in which to have water on a temporal basis as they finish the project.”

He said despite some residents touring the Kafubu Water projects, protests will go on if no water is supplied within the stipulated time. 

“We will face Kafubu water head on. Our people have suffered enough and now we can’t continue like this. They give us bills, but water does not come, this is a mockery and we won’t allow this,” said Chanda.

But Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company project manager Felix Sonde has asked the residents to give the company three days instead. 

“We have looked at the challenges of the people and have since come up with interventions before the project is completed. We have acquired a new pump that will help provide water to the residents. We are not just sitting as a company. If you see, we have completed the housing units of close to 200 in which the people that have been resettled will occupy. This project is key to the development of this area and the country at large. So we thank the people of Luanshya for their patience,” said Sonde. 

Meanwhile, Luanshya mayor Nathan Chanda took some Luanshya residents to see the Makoma treatment plant, Kafubu intake and houses which Kafubu had constructed for the people who will be displaced under US$450 million Kafulafuta project in order to calm them down.

“It is an open door policy for us. We as a local authority do not want to make decisions or speak without engaging our people. I am a kind of a leader who wants to be part of the solution. This problem of water has been going on for some time now. So I am happy that the residents of Luanshya particularly Mpatamatu and Roan came to see and appreciate what the government is doing through Kafubu water and sewerage company. I am happy that as Luanshya we have benefited 30% of the US 104 million dollars project,” said Chanda. 

Mayor Chanda earlier lead a team of some residents and Kafubu water management to ct .