Chinese Government provides RMB 250 million grant — via ETCA — for Three Maize Flour Milling Plants Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#2342 and #52463)

In January 2017, the Chinese Government and the Government of Zambia signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), which committed RMB 250 million of grant funding for the Three Maize Flour Milling Plants Construction Project.

The purpose of the project was to construct three maize flour milling plants: one in the Monze district within Southern Province, one in Mpika district within Muchinga Province, and one (as a "demonstration plant”) at the Zambia Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center (also known as the China-Zambia Agricultural Technology Demonstration Facility and the UNZA Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre) in Chongwe district.

Upon completion, it is expected that the milling plants in Monze district and Mpika district will each have a daily processing capacity of 240 tons.

The demonstration plant will train about 200 local technicians per year and it is expected to have a daily processing capacity of 40 tons.

China Machinery Industry Construction Group Inc. (SINOCONST) is the general contractor responsible for project implementation. However, COFCO Engineering & Technology (Zhengzhou) Co. Ltd is also involved in implementation.

A groundbreaking ceremony took place on April 17, 2019, and the project was originally expected to reach completion within 21 months (January 17, 2021).

By December 2019, the construction of the milling plant in Change district had achieved an 85% completion rate and it was on track to become operational in June 2020.

Then, on November 15, 2021, one of the three milling plants was successfully put into operation by COFCO Engineering & Technology (Zhengzhou) Co. Ltd.

Roughly one month later, in mid-December 2021, the milling plant in Monze district (known as the ZNS Industrial Milling Plant) was officially commissioned. On June 3, 2022, a handover ceremony was held at Lusaka. Zambian Defense Minister Lufuma and Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Du Xiaohui attended the ceremony..