The Dowa district council has approved District Development Fund (DDF) allocation of K205 million for proposed projects in the district.
It was recommended that DDF for 2018 /19 be used for the projects as prioritised by the District Development Plan (DDP).
Most of the funds will be allocated to the water sector to be used for drilling boreholes in all the seven constituencies in the district.
Speaking on Thursday during a full council meeting held at the boma, Dowa District Commissioner Alex Mdooko proposed that some of the funds should go to maintenance of the DC’s office and Madisi market.
Mdooko pleaded with the members that the DC’s office is operating without functional flash toilets with the chamber’s ceiling board on the verge of collapsing.
“Looking from outside, one can see the council building very attractive but inside of it, people are finding problems to answer the call of nature due to blockages of the flash toilets, hence, this need urgent attention,” he said.
Senior Chief Kayembe concurred with the DC saying one day the members will fail to meet in the chamber since the ceiling board will fall.
However, Dowa West parliamentarian, Alexander Kusamba Dzonzi, asked the secretariat to find other sources of funds for the DC’s office and Madisi market completion projects.
Kusamba Dzonzi said MPs and councillors of the district thought it wise to use the 2018/19 DDF for drilling boreholes in all the 7 constituencies of the district after noticing that most of the council projects are failing to be completed, hence bringing in no revenue.
He said although the secretariat proposes a number of projects to be implemented which include completion of projects started in previous years, the DDP for Dowa is stating clearly that water is priority number one as recommended by all Area Development Committees across the district, therefore their presence is to stand with the communities.
After a lengthy and heated debate which brought other businesses on the agenda to a standstill, the members resolved to drill eight boreholes in each of the seven constituencies of the district with the remaining money going to maintenance of the DC’s office and Madisi market in the district.
