Widening the resource base of Kitwe City council

The financing of local governments in Zambia has undergone a number of negative changes in recent decades. Financial transfers from national governments have ceased and a number of ill-founded declarations, policy and legislative changes have been made. These include zero-rating land, transferring from municipalities to central government and parastatal agencies of revenue-generating functions, the transfer of functions to local governments without financial support and the sale of council houses to tenants at below market rates. The situation is made worse by the generally poor performance of the national economy. The combined effect has been to seriously undermine the financial viability of all Zambian local governments, and the Kitwe City Council (KCC). In Kitwe’s case, the decline and restructuring of the industrial base on the Copperbelt has further reduced the revenue potential of the city. In response, KCC has identified enhancing the city’s revenue base as its top strategic priority. Support under the SINPA programme was mobilised in this regard.