The long awaited indoor netball court project is set to start with the awarding of the contract to a Chinese firm, China 20 Bureau Group Corporation, according to a press release from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.
The project is estimated to cost K7.7 billion with funding from government and it has been allocated K500 million in the 2021 National Budget.
Reads the statement: “Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture wished to inform the general public and all the tender for the construction of National Indoor Netball Stadium at Mjamba in Blantyre, reference number 50/2020 that it has finalised the evaluation process. bidders that participated in the
“The ministry now intends to award contracts as follows; name of contract National Netball Indoor Court, successful bidder; China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation, contract price K7 770 430 405.”
In an interview on Friday, the ministry’s spokesperson Symon Mbvundula confirmed the development, saying it is expecting work to start next month.
He said: “After awarding the contract, we will then have a signing ceremony [of the contract] and handover the site to the contractor.
“We will also negotiate as to when the contractor intends to start, but we are targeting by the end of July the contractor should be on site.”
Mbvundula said it is a relief that the project, which was initiated in 2010 is on course to be done.
“To us, this is a milestone because we don’t have such a facility,” he said.
The spokesperson said the indoor netball court will, among others accommodate basketball, volleyball and table tennis courts.
In an interview Netball Association of Malawi general secretary Carol Bapu applauded government for its commitment to the project.
“Due to poor infrastructure, we have been unable to attract big netball countries such as England, Australia and New Zealand to tour Malawi,” she said.
