🇿🇲 Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and third in terms of size and population after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development. It is the industrial and commercial centre of the Copperbelt, Zambia's copper-mining region, and capital of Copperbelt Province. It lies just 10 km (6.2 mi) from the border with DR Congo. It is also home to Zambia's first modern stadium, the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.
1Industry Once the largest industrial centre of Zambia, boasting, among many high-powered sites, company facilities including a Land Rover vehicle assembly plant, Dunlop Tire manufacture, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever, Ndola's economy shrank significantly between 1980 and 2000. Many closed factories and plants lie unoccupied in the town. A number of former industries such as clothing and vehicle assembly have disappeared completely. Even though the term 'ghost town' can no longer apply to it, Ndola is yet to regain its economic glory of pre-1980 days.
1Refining There are no mines in Ndola itself, but the Bwana Mkubwa open-cast mine is only 10 km south-east of the city centre. Until their closure, copper and precious metals used to be brought from elsewhere in the Copperbelt for processing at the Ndola Copper Refinery and Precious Metals Refinery. Copper exports provide 70–80% of Zambia's export earnings, making the city very important to the country's economy.
The Indeni Oil Refinery in Ndola supplies the whole country with refined petroleum. It was repaired in 2001 after being severely damaged by fire in 1999. GL Africa Energy, through its subsidiary Ndola Energy Company Limited, provides 105MW of power to the National Grid of Zambia. Power is generated from heavy fuel oil supplied by the Indeni Petroleum refinery.
1Commercial Ndola is home to one of the country's national newspapers, the Times of Zambia, as well as its printer, Printpak. These run as one company called TimesPrintpak. Catholic church run printing press, Mission Press, is also located in Ndola. Mission Press operates as a commercial entity.
The headquarters of the Zambia Postal Service Corporation (Zampost) and workers compensation control board are located in Ndola. Zambia's ultra modern stadium in Ndola accommodates most Zambia international sports events.
One mark of Ndola's commercial significance to Zambia is shown by the presence of the only major centre of operation for the country's central bank, the Bank of Zambia, outside of the capital, Lusaka. Every major bank in Zambia has at least one branch in Ndola. The largest insurance group in Zambia, ZSIC ('zeesk'), own many commercial and residential properties in the city.
1Limestone Ndola has huge limestone reserves which are believed to be among the most homogeneous of their kind in the world. Limestone has therefore become to Ndola's economy what copper is to the rest of the country, providing much of the wealth and employment (Lime is a major component in the production of cement; a cement plant getting its lime from limestone and manufacturing a limestone cement will consume well over 80 kg limestone per 100 kg of cement produced).
Between 1974 and 2009, Ndola supplied over 50% of Zambia's cement from a plant located some 5 km south-east of the heart of the city. This plant was called Chilanga Cement, Ndola Works. The parent company then was Chilanga Cement plc. Chilanga Cement ran two plants in Zambia: one built in 1949 at Chilanga (hence the parent company name) and the other built in 1969 at Ndola. In 2008, the new holding company, Lafarge Cement Zambia, completed construction of a brand new plant at Chilanga which would produce about double the volume of Ndola Works. By mid-2009, the new plant was still gathering momentum toward full production capacity, leaving Ndola still a significant player in the region's cement industry. Nonetheless, the combination of huge limestone deposits and existing transport infrastructure passing through Ndola has kept the city a very attractive destination for investment into cement production and related activities.
A second cement works is under construction in 2008. In June 2009, countrywide advertisements were published to finalise staffing for this new cement plant.
Another important processing plant that is based on limestone in the area is Ndola Lime. It is Zambia's sole producer of Lime. Ndola Lime is located near the two cement manufacturing facilities. It supplies the mining industry as well as farmers who require agricultural lime. Ndola Lime company is wholly owned by ZCCM Investment Holdings, a parastatal holdings company via which Zambia's government maintains its active interest in the country's mining and closely related heavy industry.
1Cultural Interactions The four processing plants (the cement plants, the lime plant and Bwana Mkubwa) have mining rights on land located very close to the traditional Chiefdom of Chiwala. Chief Chiwala is therefore a significant interested party to Ndola industry and economics.
1Electrical Engineering Egyptian company Elsewedy Electric joined a consortium of local companies led by ZESCO Ltd (Zambia's electricity supply authority), and established a transformer manufacturing plant and an electrical meter manufacturing plant in Zambia in 2008. Both these facilities are located about 5 km south of Ndola city centre.
1Transport The city is served by the operating sections of the Cape to Cairo Railway. The railway operator Zambia Railways maintains a railway station in Ndola, with passenger and freight services to the cities of Kitwe, Livingstone, Kabwe and Lusaka. Freight rail lines (Cape to Cairo Railway) run to other Copperbelt towns and from Ndola to Lubumbashi in DR Congo via Sakania.
Ndola is on the T3 Road, which connects to Kitwe in the north-west (as a dual carriageway) and to Kapiri Mposhi and Lusaka in the south. The M4 Road connects Ndola to Mufulira (and the Congo Pedicle) in the north.
Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport, currently located 15 km west of the city centre (adjacent to the Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site Memorial), has scheduled domestic services to Lusaka and international service to Addis Ababa, Johannesburg and Nairobi. It is one of the country's four international airports, others being Livingstone, Lusaka and Mfuwe.
The oil pipeline from Dar es Salaam terminates at the Indeni Oil Refinery in the town. These factors make Ndola the distribution centre of the Copperbelt and northern Zambia.
Education The Northrise University was founded in 2003. The following are some of the education institutions found in Ndola: • Copperbelt Nursing Polytechnic • The Copperbelt University School of Medicine • Ndola College of Biomedical Sciences • Ndola Technical School • Northern Technical College • National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA),Ndola campus.
1Ndola has a population of over 451,246 people. Ndola also forms the centre of the wider Copperbelt Province which has a population of over 2,542,132 people.
To set up a UBI Lab for Ndola see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork
Twin Towns, Sister Cities Ndola has links with:
🏴 Aldershot, England 🇱🇷 Bentol, Liberia 🇲🇼 Blantyre, Malawi 🇨🇳 Harbin, China 🇨🇩 Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo 🇷🇺 Makhachkala, Russia 🇵🇹 Oliveira de Azeméis, Portugal 🇵🇹 Porto, Portugal 🇨🇦 Regina, Canada 🇳🇦 Walvis Bay, Namibia🇧🇷 Santo Antônio de Jesus -12.97
🇧🇷 Salvador da Bahia -12.971
🇧🇷 Lucas do Rio Verde -13.067
Locations Near: Ndola 28.6333,-12.9667
🇿🇲 Luanshya 28.4,-13.133 d: 31.3
🇿🇲 Kabwe 28.443,-14.441 d: 165.2
🇨🇩 Lubumbashi 27.467,-11.65 d: 193.6
🇿🇲 Lusaka 28.283,-15.417 d: 275
🇨🇩 Kolwezi 25.468,-10.718 d: 425.7
🇿🇼 Harare 31.05,-17.817 d: 598.3
🇿🇼 Kadoma 29.9,-18.333 d: 611.9
🇨🇩 Kamina 24.983,-8.733 d: 616.8
🇿🇲 Livingstone 25.856,-17.847 d: 618.9
🇹🇿 Sumbawanga 31.617,-7.967 d: 644.5
Antipodal to: Ndola -151.367,12.967
🇺🇸 Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 19165.2
🇺🇸 Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 18997.8
🇺🇸 Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 18980.6
🇺🇸 Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 18978.2
🇺🇸 Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 18974.3
🇺🇸 Honolulu -157.85,21.3 d: 18860.9
🇺🇸 Pearl City -157.969,21.394 d: 18845.1
🇺🇸 Mililani -158,21.433 d: 18839.7