Audit results for the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (Gesd) initiative shows that out of 327 projects being implemented in various districts across the country, 166 have defects, representing 51 percent.
In the World Bank-funded Gesd, councils are given grants for implementing projects if they score well in how they perform their functions.
The defects in the 166 projects have been blamed on Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which lashed Malawi in March last year, and poor workmanship.
Speaking in Lilongwe yesterday, where he presented the audit findings, Minister of Local Government Richard Chimwendo Banda said 15 councils do not have any projects with significant defects.
“Twelve councils have at least one project with significant defects. In total, 327 projects were assessed, with 166 projects exhibiting various levels of defects,” the minister said.
Four percent of the projects, according to the report, have severe cracks in floors, walls and foundations, caused by natural disasters and use of substandard materials.
Nineteen of the projects have defective beams and slabs, lifting and cracking of screed and omission of minor works.
Twenty-six percent of the projects have minor defects; for example, hairline cracks, poorly fixed joinery, poor plaster work and substandard painting.
Chimwendo Banda said government, through the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, will enforce material testing by local authorities on all projects.
He further disclosed that a contractor who abandoned a project in Thyolo after being paid has refunded the money.
Dowa has emerged the best-performing council in the 2023-24 financial year.
The council has since received K774.1 million to go towards implementation of projects of its choice.
For the first time, all 28 districts in the country have qualified for grants worth K16 billion.
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace National Coordinator Boniface Chibwana has called for close monitoring of the projects to deal away with the defects issue.
“This is an area where effective citizen engagement is needed to make sure that the projects that are constructed are durable and stand the test of time,” Chibwana said
