Zambia’s Constituency Development Fund is paying for more infrastructure in more constituencies, but nothing yet forces two similar police stations, built in two different constituencies, to cost the same. Kelvin Chisanga argues for national cost benchmarks before CDF’s growth turns into a blank cheque.
By Kelvin Chisanga
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- CDF is funding more infrastructure across more constituencies, but Zambia has no national cost benchmark for recurring builds such as police stations, so identical facilities can carry very different price tags with no clear explanation.
- A benchmark should set a measurable standard, not one price for the whole country: a 500 square metre police station benchmarked at K12,000 per square metre works out to K6 million, adjusted for genuine differences in terrain, transport and material costs.
- A proposal above the benchmark, such as K8 million for the same station, should still be approvable, but only with detailed justification, an independent technical assessment and public disclosure before approval is given.
- The same benchmark-and-threshold system should apply to schools, clinics, markets and every other category of CDF infrastructure, not police stations alone.
- The goal is a disciplined public investment system that delivers more infrastructure, better quality and greater transparency from every kwacha, not simply a mechanism for spending money.
A widening fund, with no common yardstick
As the Constituency Development Fund continues to expand, government has to guard against a situation where similar public projects carry widely different costs with no clear justification. Two constituencies can commission the same type of facility, a police station, a clinic, a market, and end up with two very different bills, and there is currently no consistent standard against which either figure can be checked.
Without national cost benchmarks and transparent approval controls, CDF risks paying more than it should for the same infrastructure. Every excess kwacha spent on one project is a kwacha that could have funded another.
Why a benchmark, not a single national price
The answer is not to impose one price on the whole country. Terrain, transport costs, labour rates and material prices differ from one constituency to another, and a genuinely remote build will cost more than one close to a supply route. What benchmarking requires is that these variations be measurable and justified, not simply accepted because a contractor or council says so.
A worked example: the K6 million police station
Take a standard 500 square metre police station. Benchmarked at K12,000 per square metre, that facility should cost around K6 million. If a proposal comes in at K8 million, it should still be capable of approval, but only transparently: with a detailed justification for the difference, an independent technical assessment of the site and design, and public disclosure of the figures before approval is granted.
Scrutiny above the threshold, not blanket refusal
Projects that come in above the benchmark should not be rejected outright, nor waved through on the strength of a single signature. They should undergo enhanced financial and technical scrutiny, with every variation from the benchmark properly documented, and that scrutiny should apply consistently, wherever the constituency and whoever the contractor.
Beyond police stations
Police stations are only the clearest example. The same system, a national benchmark, a threshold for extra scrutiny and public disclosure of exceptions, should apply just as firmly to the schools, clinics, markets and every other category of infrastructure that CDF now funds.
From a spending mechanism to an investment system
CDF must become a disciplined public investment system, not simply a mechanism for spending money. The objective is to provide more infrastructure, of better quality, with greater transparency, and to extract maximum development value from every kwacha spent.
Related reading: OAG Reports Simplified: How Zambia Audits the Constituency Development Fund, The First 100 Days: Five Fiscal Decisions Waiting for Whoever Wins and Sunday Chanda Withdraws Kanchibiya Election Petition, Cites Doubled CDF From Delimitation.
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