Over US$10 million has been spent on infrastructure development at the Ndola-based Sub-Sahara Gemstone Exchange Industrial Park which is expected to create about 30,000 jobs in the next five years.

The industrial park is a multi-function economic development zone aimed at accelerating economic growth through business activities and employment creation.

Sub-Sahara Gemstone Exchange Industrial park president Phesto Musonda said contractors are currently on site to work on the road network while Zesco Limited and Copper belt Energy Corporation (CEC) are establishing a 33Kilovolt and 21Megawatts of electricity respectively.

Mr Musonda said in an interview that the park will house industries such as an oil refinery, lapidaries and gemstone processing and light engineering.

Other industries will include construction and hardware, electrical appliance and Copper processing plants.

The park which will also have support facilities will promote value addition to local raw materials.

“Support facilities will include, skills training centre, procurement services, shopping mall, office parks, hotel and residential developments,” he said.

Four companies namely; the Sub-Sahara Gemstone Exchange, Phoenix Materials Limited, a brick manufacturing firm, Mei Mei Limited and Electro Winning Resources Zambia Limited are currently operating at the industrial park.

He said there is need for local entrepreneurs to take advantage of the park by investing in projects that will enhance value addition and enable Zambian products to penetrate the USA market under the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA).

“AGOA has opened market opportunities for Zambia, but this will only be possible if local enterprenuers add value to the local resources…The country has a lot of copper and gemstones that can be processed into products that can be exported to the USA,” he said.

He, however, said there is need for affordable finance if local enterprenuers are to venture into projects that will accelerate development.

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