VNc#2726a: The seventh indispensable action – a Productive Infrastructure Revolution
By Comm. VPM Nyasulu
aka @shikulu-LUBUTO
If the first six indispensable actions are to produce the transformation Zambia urgently needs, the next Government must confront another fundamental constraint facing indigenous Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (i-MSMEs): Zambians cannot build productive enterprises on unproductive infrastructure.
We can provide entrepreneurs with skills, improve access to finance, open Government procurement markets, localise value chains, reform the regulatory environment to reward productivity rather than maintain compliance and can build an entrepreneurial revolution.
But if an indigenous manufacturer has NO reliable electricity, serviced workspace, affordable transport, adequate water, storage facility, cold chain, digital connectivity and efficient route to market, their productive potential will remain severely constrained.
The seventh (7) indispensable action is therefore for the next GRZ to deliberately build a National Productive Infrastructure System-NPIS for i-MSMEs.
This must go beyond roads and bridges. Zambia needs infrastructure designed not merely to facilitate movement, but to facilitate production. From Infrastructure for People to Infrastructure for Production
For decades, infrastructure policy has largely been viewed through the lens of major roads, airports, dams and other large public projects. These are important. But the question for the next Government must increasingly be:
Where and how will Zambians actually produce?
An industrial economy requires places where entrepreneurs can manufacture, process, assemble, repair, store, distribute and sell.
The next GRZ should therefore establish a nationwide network of serviced Indigenous Enterprise and Production Zones. These should not become another collection of underutilised industrial parks.
They should be deliberately designed around the needs of i-MSMEs and connected to local economic opportunities.
A production zone in Eastern Province, for example, should be capable of supporting agricultural processing, furniture, textiles, animal-feed production, food processing and other enterprises based on the province’s comparative advantages.
Similarly, production infrastructure in Copperbelt and North-Western provinces should facilitate manufacturing, engineering, mining-supply enterprises, fabrication, logistics and mineral beneficiation.
The principle should be simple: Take infrastructure closer to production and production closer to opportunity.
RELIABLE ELECTRICITY MUST BECOME A BUSINESS IMPERATIVE
Few things undermine enterprise more quickly than unreliable and expensive electricity. An indigenous manufacturer cannot compete effectively if machinery cannot operate consistently. A cold-chain business cannot preserve products without dependable power. A digital enterprise cannot operate competitively with unreliable connectivity.
The next GRZ must therefore treat reliable and affordable productive energy as an economic necessity rather than merely a social utility.
Industrial and enterprise zones should have dedicated and resilient power systems, including opportunities for solar, mini-grids, battery storage and other appropriate technologies.
Energy policy must increasingly ask not simply: “How many households have electricity?”
but also: “How many productive enterprises can reliably produce because electricity is available?”
That is the difference between electrification and industrialisation.
SHARED PRODUCTION FACILITIES
One of the greatest disadvantages facing i-MSMEs is that small enterprises cannot individually afford the infrastructure available to large corporations.
A small food processor may not afford a commercial cold room.
A furniture maker may not afford advanced machinery.
A textile entrepreneur may not afford industrial equipment.
A small engineering enterprise may not afford specialised fabrication facilities.
Government should therefore facilitate shared productive infrastructure.
These could include:
Common-user manufacturing facilities; Industrial kitchens and food-processing centres; Cold-storage and aggregation facilities; Packaging and labelling centres; Testing and certification laboratories; Shared machinery and equipment centres; Digital fabrication and innovation hubs; Warehousing and logistics facilities; and Product exhibition and wholesale centres.
This would allow an entrepreneur to access productive capacity without having to purchase every machine and facility individually. The objective should be to reduce the cost of entry into production.
This is the first part of how the 7th indispensable GRZ action could assist to get the Zambian i-MSMEs finally thrive. Next week VNc#2726b shall tackle the second part to complete the argument.
Fwebene ba Fishilikiti twaisa neLampi
The Author can be reached on +260 955 746 997 or via email at vpmn69@gmail.com
