President Peter Mutharika said yesterday government is looking into prospects of tapping water from Mulanje Mountain to Blantyre to enable residents to access the treasured resource more efficiently.
This comes at a time when residents in the city have expressed dissatisfaction with the intermittent water supply by Blantyre Water Board (BWB).
But speaking during a media conference at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre yesterday, President Mutharika assured the city’s residents the water woes would soon be history once the project takes shape.
Mutharika said during his seven-day official visit to China last week, he also held fruitful discussions with some Chinese companies on how they can help the country improve its water sector.
“We are thinking about getting some water from Mulanje Mountain to some parts of Blantyre. There is a company from India we are discussing with and we hope we will get it,” said Mutharika who convened the media to brief them about his China visit where he attended the 2015 World Economic Forum.
The President further said his government was planning to expand the Walker’s Ferry in Blantyre and the water sources in Lilongwe and Mzuzu to ensure effective provision of potable water in the country’s cities.
Despite this commitment, government recently approved increased water tariffs for all water boards to as high as 45 percent amid the continued water woes in the cities.
Commenting on his China trip, Mutharika said he held several bilateral meetings at the forum where he shared with the global audience the economic progress Malawi has achieved.
“The meeting also afforded the Malawi delegation the opportunity to build partnerships in trade and investment for Malawi’s sustainable economic growth and development,” he said.
The President also said the Chinese government assured Malawi of its willingness to give the country support on the second round of projects submitted to that government.
The new projects Malawi has submitted to the Chinese government include, in order of their priority, Kam’mwamba Coal-Fired Power Plant, rehabilitation of Chileka Airport, construction of Tsangano–Neno–Mwanza Road and E-Government (national identity) Project.
Others are construction of Mangochi–Makanjira Road, upgrading of the Phombeya–Makanjira–Chatoloma 220kv power line and a dual carriageway on the Alimaunde–Mchinji Roundabout on the M1 Road.
Mutharika said the Chinese government would soon be sending a team of experts to assess the said projects before consideration.
