Mota-Engil retains staff at Malawi ports
Portuguese industrial conglomerate Mota-Engil has maintained about 90 percent of all employees at Malawi’s four major ports who were previously under government payroll.
The retention of the staff follows the recent handing over of the management and operation of the ports by government, through the Ministry of Transport and Public Works on July 1 2013 to the Malawi Ports Company, a subsidiary of Mota-Engil.
Lake Malawi has four major ports; Chilumba in Karonga, Chipoka in Salima, Monkey-Bay in Mangochi and Nkhata Bay, that were designed to handle both cargo and passengers.
Consultant for ports and shipping services at Mota-Engil Austin Msowoya told journalists on the sidelines of a media tour at Chipoka Port at the weekend that staff at the ports were given three options of retiring, joining Mota- Engil or redeployed to other government departments.
“But I am happy to inform you that we have retained over 90 percent of all staff that were under government and this is contrary to what most staff had earlier anticipated as they feared to lose their jobs,” said Msowoya.
He described the take-over by Mota-Engil to manage and operate the ports as a ‘turnaround’ and promised that the company will strive to convince people that water is an important and cost effective mode of transport.
Msowoya said the company has already set aside about $2 million (K690m) to be injected into rehabilitating the present facilities at the ports, saying that it will soon acquire new equipment and also improve its vessels.
“Malawi Ports Company will see the country’s ports winning back some activities that were lost some 20 years ago for the ports to handle both imports and export cargo effectively,” he said.
The concession agreement to manage and operate the ports, among other things, grants Mota Engil the right to finance, manage, operate and maintain the Malawi Lake Ports for 35 years.
Mota-Engil managing director for Malawi Jose Dinis da Silva told Business News recently that the company has since last year been waiting to be handed over the ports, but was quick to acknowledge that there are so many challenges lying ahead ‘in bringing life to the ports.’
“Shipping is an important mode of transport in an economy like ours in Malawi where people long to see a cheap mode of transport as provided by shipping,” he said.
