Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu has officially opened the $25million British American Tobacco ( BAT) Zambia Cigarette Manufacturing Plant in the Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone – MFEZ- with the call for more investment in the manufacturing sector.
Dr. Ng’andu says the plant represents the kind of development government is determined to have that enhances the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment.
The minister said currently the tobacco sector is estimated to support a livelihood of about 5 hundred thousand farmers with a ready market.
Dr. Ng’andu has urged the company to engage the domestic Agriculture sector like the Tobacco industry and create linkages to cut down on imports of Tobacco.
And BAT Zambia Plc general manager Kimesh Naidoo said the Zambian market holds potential in creating more upstream and downstream employment through the tobacco industry development
BAT and the rest of big tobacco faces the same future as the internal combustion engine, the coal industry, the petroleum industry and the whole lot of them. Their futures are in the past.
Is the Cigarette plant belong to Finance Minister? I am confused.
That’s what logic might tell you but the world will always have smokers and the tobacco industry will continue to feed them
It’s all just BAT-Sh!t in smoke.
Instead of opening textile, computer and phone manufacturing industries like Rwanda, Ungada and Ethiopia are doing, we are busy opening cigarette plants. Cigarettes are causing lung cancer and we want to encourage more smoking and we have no capacity to treat lung cancer.
Is there a law that forbids anyone from opening computer or cellphone manufacturing in Zambia. Have you tried to open one?
Let them smoke themselves in to a short life. Rather die in an accident than some thing I can avoid. Aku pepeni ba fikalaaaaaaaaaaaa naba finyoooooooooo
Should be Minister for Finance or Minister for Commerce and Industry opening this or commissioning this terrible investment in cancer related illness
Why encourage industry which is a health
Hazard and cause of cancer.Instead encourage companies to invest in solar
Energy. The country is lagging behind in
Energy.give incentives in this field.
Don’t you know it’s, Zambia… What else do you expect??
Very terrible kind of investment; It will cost the nation more money that what it will bring in – treatment of cancer is tripple or even more than what these guys are bringing in.
God bless Zambia!
UK is trying to eradicate cigarettes by 2030 because of the health cost to life and financial cost to the NHS. And Zambia is promoting smoking when cancer and heart problems hit Zambia ECL will suggest a national prayer day. You guys will just be mocking God, you invite problems and ask for divine intervention. WE ARE IN TROUBLE!
Kiki a leadership that lacks vision. Why would you invest in an industry that is currently experiencing curtailment due to negative policies on the use of Tobacco products? Is this president Kaiser Zulu ‘s decision
But n Zambia commissioning factories and roads and and and is the function of President. Is Dr Ngandu incoming?
Comment:OK like yes its a good move but most youths are already misusing ciggaretes now bringing that tobbaco plantation will be a danger to most smoke consumers
It’s not a good move!
Do people still smoke cigarette in Zambia? It’s a long time I saw someone smoking.
It’s a dying industry, mixed messages from boma, first they say eat well (no food for the majority) and exercise (on hungry stomachs) and now you are telling us that there will be a cigarette factory to finish us off!
What a bunch of jerks!!
It’s open, you also invest in other industries. That industry offer three tier jobs.
It is better to legalize marijuana!
With climate change and looking at the process of curing tobacco we are yet to see more deforestation eventually less rains and less food production poor economic situation. We can do better than investing in tobacco industry.
I thought this was done 2 years ago. they used to be along Kafue road before Makeni Mall
Wrong headline
There has been a BAT factory in the Economic Zone for about two years. So this must have been set up to make the government look like it is encouraging. investment. But why tobacco. Very few Africans smoke and it is a dieing industry. If it was a brewery I could understand, it would offset South African beer imports and one thing the population in general do, is consume lots of alcohol.
The people cannot eat cigarettes.