from SNIKE MZULAH in Siavonga, ZAMBIA
Zambia Bureau
SIAVONGA, (CAJ News) – SIAVONGA Town Council has secured land for the construction of its much needed convention centre.
Council chairperson Given Kwapu told CAJ News Africa they had found the land near Manchinchi junction along Siavonga-Lusaka high.
He said the district, which lacks a conference hall that can handle many people, needed a facility with capacity to host high-level conferences.
“Siavonga district has all it takes to host international conferences,” Kwapu said.
“All we need is to build a big convention centre which can accommodate over 1,000 delegates,” Kwapu stated.
He said with land available, the council now needed to find a developer that could work with it to build the convention centre.
He said once it was established, a small marketing team to be called conference hunters; will be constituted to source for conference business.
“Most of the time our hotel and lodge owners in Siavonga have failed to host big conferences because they don't have large conference halls able to accommodate big numbers of people,” he said.
Because of this challenge, some workshops were being held in Livingstone.
Meanwhile stakeholders in the tourist town have welcomed the idea of having a convention centre in Siavonga.
Siavonga Tourism and Business Development (STBD) chairperson Steve Thompson said a convention centre would host large-scale events and conferences organized by the private sector and government.
“It will bring business or industry professionals together to discuss important issues here. This will make this place lively and this is the kind of development that we want in this tourist town,” he said.
Hotel and Catering Association in Zambia (HCAZ) Siavonga district chairperson Tikambilani Banda said international events could be held locally if the convention centre became a reality.
“We will also be able to organize international exhibitions in the convention centre to attract foreigners who will get to experience Siavonga,” uniqueness,” he said.
“These visitors will become unofficial ambassadors of Siavonga when they return to their respective countries,” he added.
– CAJ News