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NIRAS' new office in Zambia a success

Towards the end of 2005 NIRAS opened a new office in Zambia and since then several projects have found their way into NIRAS’ portfolio.

About the time the office opened, NIRAS was awarded a contract with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Ministry of Finance and National Planning of the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ). The contract is for a programme for Luapula Agricultural and Rural Development in Zambia.

Tor Lundström from NIRAS explains: “The overall objective of this programme is to contribute to the development of an efficient, competitive and sustainable agricultural and rural sector in the Luapula Province. The project period is 3½ years and the total budget is 10 million Euros. The project has been running since March 2006.”

“And that is not the only substantial project finding its way to our new Zambia office,” Tor Lundström continues. “We also won a tender in May for an EC funded project regarding food security and agricultural development in the Western and Northern Provinces. GFA Consulting Group is lead partner in the project, where we combine our competences to obtain the best results. This project begins on August 14th and we are quite eager to get started.”

The office has participated in signing other contracts concerned with issues such as environmental legislation financed by Nordic Development Fund (NDF) and forestry in Zambia. “Zambia has for years been struggling with severe poverty, and no doubt there is a profound will in the country to make a change for the better. We are happy to be there and assist as well as we can,” Tor Lundström adds.

For further information, please contact Tuomas Kivikoski

tel. +358-9-836 242 25 or email tki@niras.fi.