Govt wants K10bn Likoma Island Jetty expedited
Deputy Minister of Transport and Public Works Nancy Chaola Mdooko has urged Mota Engil to speed up production of precast concrete materials for the K10 billion Likoma Island Jetty.
The deputy minister said this yesterday when she visited the Portuguese construction and industrial conglomerate main camp at Zalewa to appreciate progress made on production of the materials.
She said as Lake Malawi water levels are high, it would be easy to transport the materials.
Said Mdooko: “It is better that they [Mota-Engil] speed up the production process so that we can transport the concrete materials now.”
The concrete materials, comprising 175 pieces of basement and barriers, will be transported from the Zalewa Camp to Chipoka Port by rail. From there, they will be loaded on a barge off to the Island. Depending on the size, one beam weighs between 7 000 kilogrammes (kg) and 13 000 kg.
In a separate interview, Mota-Engil precast manager for Zalewa Camp Andrew Limbe said they have so far done 90 percent of the work.
On his part, director of marine services John Mhango said the jetty will help mobility of people of Likoma Island and the country at large.
Government, which is funding the project. launched construction works of the jetty in March 2019.
