Ndola Lime bids opened

The Zambia Privatisation Agency (ZPA) opened bids for Ndola Lime Company (NLC) yesterday with three foreign and two local firms expressing interest to have a 30 per cent stake in the company.

Among the companies bidding for NLC are Chillerton Cement Limited, Capital Infrastructure Limited of Mauritius, Tata Zambia Limited and the Associated Cement Companies Limited of India, Kenya’s Athi River Mining Limited, and the Nyimba Group and Agro-Fuel Limited of Zambia.

Opening the bids in Lusaka, ZPA head of documentation Catherine Muyawala said the bids would have to undergo scrutiny before a preferred bidder was picked.

"It doesn’t necessarily mean that the highest bidder gets the bid. A lot of other technical proof and supporting documents will have to be analysed before a preferred bidder is picked," she said.

She added that the first communication to the bidders would be done next week to acknowledge receipt of the bids while the scrutinising process goes on.

Mr Kabwe said the bidders requested for enough time to carry out diligence investigations about the company. "The five bids are enough and we feel they are qualified to make bids and hope to have a stake in Ndola Lime," he said.