Malawi Government has underscored the need to develop the country’s rural areas in order to control the influx of people into the urban areas.
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Kondwani Nankhumwa blamed the country’s high urbanisation rate—currently at seven percent—on failure by the communities to secure employment and business opportunities within their rural areas.
Speaking after visiting Nsanje Central and Tengani Market sites where government intends to construct modern markets in the next two months, Nankhumwa said government is committing itself to bringing such developments to the rural masses in an attempt to reverse the trend.
“Government has observed that more people are leaving rural areas going into the cities or urban areas looking for opportunities whether employment or business. With this, in five or 10 years to come, more people will be in the urban areas scrambling for the towns and cities limited resources.
“It is, therefore, the wish of this government to transform the rural areas so that people can establish businesses while some get employed right away in their respective areas,” said Nankhumwa on Wednesday.
On the construction of the two markets including a modern Bus Depot at Nsanje Boma, Nankhumwa said the government will spend about K450 million.
Senior Chief Malemia of the district was thankful to government for the efforts being made to construct modern markets and the bus depot as people have been waiting for the development for a long time.
