‘Kamuzu Barrage ready by October’

Government site engineer for Kamuzu Barrage in Liwonde, Machinag Toney Nyasulu has said the barrage will be operational by October end this year.

He said this during a meeting with media managers in Liwonde on Friday organised to brief them on progress of rehabilitation works on the barrage.

Nyasulu said the barrage was expected to be completed in October 2017, but this failed due to some technical problems the contractors were experiencing on site.

He said: “The decking of the new bridge is now done and the removal of the existing gates and replacing with new ones is underway. Very soon, road construction to link the bridge will start and we are hopeful that come October, everything will be done.”

Nyasulu said the completion of the barrage would improve efficiency and capacity of regulating water levels upstream and downstream.

He said the bridge has 14 gates which are 40 centimetre higher than the previous one, which will help in the flow of water.

On his part, Shire River Basin Management Project communication specialist Horace Nyaka said the barrage is one of the biggest infrastructure investments in the country in many years.

He said they engaged media managers to appreciate the rate of progress.

“We have engaged reporters on a number of occasions and now we are involving the media managers to progress for themselves. So far, media coverage on the project has been fantastic and we don’t have issues with the media,” said Nyaka.

Works to revamp the Kamuzu Barrage started in 0ctober 2014.

It was commissioned in 1965 to regulate the water flow in the Shire River to ensure sustainable water flow for hydro power generation, irrigation, water supply and other uses.