Vice-President Saulos Chilima will from today embark on a nationwide inspection tour of some major public projects in the Northern, Eastern and Southern regions of the country.
Chilima, who is also Minister of Public Sector Reforms and Economic Planning and Development, will also take advantage of his visits to hold reforms quarterly review meetings with local councils in the three regions while also meeting the Public Service Review Task Force which he chairs.
The special task force was formed in February 2021 to comprehensively review the government systems of allowances, procurement and employment contracts and was given a 90-day timeframe (which expires on May 23 2021).
According to the schedule of the Veep’s tour The Nation has seen, the visits start this afternoon with an inspection of Jenda-Edingeni-Engalaweni-Manyamula Road in Mzimba before visiting the construction site of Mzimba District Commissioner’s offices.
Tomorrow, Chilima is scheduled to visit Karonga Town Water Supply and Sanitation project under Northern Region Water Board in Karonga before visiting Nthola-Ilola-Ngosi Greenbelt Initiative Irrigation Scheme in the district later in the afternoon.
On Thursday, the Veep will hold a reforms quarterly review meeting with all local councils in the Northern Region at Sunbird Mzuzu and winds up his assignments in the region on Friday with a visit Nkhata Bay Town Water Supply and Sanitation project, Aquaculture Development Project in Mzuzu as well as the rehabilitation of Mzuzu University and reconstruction of Mzuzu University Library.
Between Monday, April26 2021 and Thursday May 6 2021, Chilima expects to hold quarterly review meetings with councils in the Eastern and Southern regions while also visiting projects such as the construction of Machinga Secondary School, Phalombe District Hospital, and Domasi Community Hospital in Zomba.
In an interview yesterday, Chilima’s press officer Pilirani Phiri said the inspection tour will help him to monitor progress and urge contractors to speed up their respective construction works.
“He will also take advantage of the visits to hear out various issues that are hampering progress such as funding. The Vice-President will also weigh which projects should be prioritised or the ones that need immediate funding for completion,” he said.
Phiri described Chilima’s schedule as “tight and hectic, especially with the 90 day task force deadline approaching, but this is how he works so there is nothing unusual in as far as his work ethic is concerned”.
On Thursday, the VP completed the review progress of Public Sector Reforms in all the parastatals in the first quarter.
