Nchelenge

Nchelenge is a town of about 24,300 inhabitants ( 2006 estimate ) in the northern Zambian province of Luapula, on the southeastern shore of Mwerusees. It is the seat of the administration of the district of the same with 111 119 inhabitants ( 2000 census ). There are ferries to the island of Kilwa and Isokwe; Nearby is the Lusenga Plains National Park.

Economy

As the closest city Kashikishi is Nchelenge characterized by a vibrant market. The huts of the village pull along the shore, making it difficult to reach the water. Only further north the settlement is thinner. People are living from fishing. Tourists stay here only to refuel or because they are waiting for the ferry. The road from Serenje on the border with Katanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC) over Mansa after Nchelenge is paved since 1988. It is called " Chinese Road ". From Nchelenge there is a gravel road to Mununga. The road is the main access to the market, the Copperbelt. Twice a week, runs a truck to Lubumbashi. Another transport route in the DRC is the waterway.

Nchelenge serves as a port for copper from the Dikulushi open pit mine 25 kilometers west of the town of Kilwa on the lake shore of the DR Congo. The Zambian side offers the only continuous paved road link to South Africa for the 20,000 tonnes of copper and 1.7 million ounces of silver produced each year.

Infrastructure

The main problems are the lack of drinking water and electricity, poor provision of schools and hospitals, the increasing cases of cholera that 25 percent of people are infected with AIDS, that the rainforest has been cut down over a wide area for subsistence farming and the fact that built for the twelve prisoners prison is occupied by 120 prisoners, although cultivate land, but received neither fertilizer nor seed. In addition, many unemployed have migrated from the Copperbelt, to live from fishing, which has the fish population in Lake Mweru reduced dramatically.

In Nchelenge there are primary and secondary schools, St. Paul's Hospital, a gas station, a post office, a bank and the Lake Mweru Water Transport Guesthouse.

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