A contractor has refused to hand over to government an agriculture training college in Nyimba District because of debt.
District Agriculture Coordinator James Ngamila confirmed to Breeze News in a telephone interview, stating that government owes Juan Swang over one million kwacha.
Mr. Ngamila says that the contractor has indicated that the college will only be handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture after it pays the one million one hundred and eighty four thousand kwacha for the works done.
Mr. Ngamila says the issue was forwarded to the Minister of Agriculture who has further forwarded the matter to the Ministry of Finance for payment.
He says the project which was funded by African Development Bank was started in 2005 and it has passed through three contractors before it was completed in 2016.
Mr. Ngamila says the training college is 100 percent complete after Juan Swang a Chinese company took over the works in 2015.
He says the college will only open after government has completed paying the money.