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Govt awaits donor nod on Chingale Road

Government has said it is waiting for a nod from the Kuwait Fund to start construction works of the Lirangwe-Chingale-Machinga Road which were stopped following alleged flouting of procurement procedures.

Minister of Transport and Public Works Francis Kasaila said on Tuesday the road project has already been allocated $10  million (K4.5 billion) from the Kuwait Fund following Parliament’s approval of the loan bill.

Road_maintenance_malawiInitially, the minister said government needed $32 million (K14.4 billion) to complete the road, which starts from Lirangwe Trading Centre  off the M1 Road in Blantyre and passes through Chingale in Zomba before connecting to the M3 Road in Machinga.

Kasaila said residents along the 61.2km road would have been ululating had the previous administration followed all the processes as required by the donor.

“We submitted our report on the procurement of a consultant to the donor in January 2015 and we are just waiting for their go-ahead to start the process of engaging the contractor,” Kasaila said at Chinseu Trading Centre in Zomba during a public dialogue.

The minister said government was convinced the donor would give a go-ahead during a meeting scheduled for March 30-31 with representatives of Kuwait Fund.

Said Kasaila: “People can be assured that construction of this road, come what may, will start very soon. Once the donor gives us a go-ahead, we will expedite the process of identifying a contractor and that will be done within 90 days.”

Chingale is a swampy area and produces a lot of farm produce like maize, tomatoes, beans, onions and pigeon peas, but farmers realise little from them due to poor road network which results in vendors buying the produce at low prices.

 

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