By Blackson Mkupatira

Chiradzulu, February 7, Mana: Chiradzulu District Council on Friday approved a K9.89 billion budget for the 2025/26 financial year, marking a 101 percent increase from the 2024/25 annual allocation.

Presenting the budget during a full council meeting, Chairperson for the Finance and Audit Committee, Charles Chigwenembe, disclosed that K3.39 billion will come from central government transfers, K186.3 million from locally generated revenue, while donor contributions will account for K6.44 billion.

Chigwenembe attributed the significant budget increase to the expansion of climate-smart enhanced public works project, the introduction of a resilience climate recovery programme and a general rise in central government transfers and local revenue projections.

He outlined key donor contributions, including K778.7 million from the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD), K4.49 billion from the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP), K497.5 million from the Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) and K634.7 million from the Resilience Climate Recovery Programme (RCRP).

“Some of the major development projects in the budget include the phase one construction of a business complex at Chiradzulu Boma at K100 million, the rehabilitation of four health centres at K495 million.

“Drilling of 10 boreholes in five traditional authorities at K60 million and the construction of teacher’s houses, bridges and classroom blocks at K1 billion,” said Chigwenembe, adding that GESD funds would be used to complete stalled projects from previous years.

Member of Parliament for Chiradzulu East, Joseph Nomale, raised concerns over the council’s heavy reliance on donor funding and warned that shifting donor policies could pose risks to the district’s development plans.

“We have a K9.8 billion budget, yet the council is contributing only K186 million while nearly K6 billion is dependent on donor support.

“With some countries, like the United States, suspending their aid, this heavy reliance on external funding poses a significant risk to our financial stability,” he said.

Nomale, therefore, stressed the importance of expanding local revenue sources to ensure financial stability, especially in light of global funding uncertainties and delayed funding from central government.

On his part, Sub-Traditional Authority Maone urged the council to empower local businesses to generate higher revenues, which in turn, would boost the council’s income.

In an interview following the budget approval, Chiradzulu District Council Chairperson Patrick Chintengo expressed optimism, noting that the budget would benefit vulnerable communities through programmes like SCTP, CS-EPWP and GESD.

The 2025/26 budget will be implemented over a period of 12 months from April 2025 to March 2026. Key sectoral allocations include K1.2 billion to health, K420.9 million to education and K84.1 million to agriculture.