Compensation issues worry committee

Transport Committee of Parliament has said there was need for the government to be looking into issues of compensations prior to commencement of roads construction in the country.

The committee’s chairperson, Robert Mwina, told legislators on Wednesday that they were saddened that the World Bank had suspended construction works of a road from Dedza to Kasungu and the road from Phalombe boma to Nkhulambe because of compensation complaints.

“After scrutinising the budget of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, one of the issues we took note of is to do with encroachment where communities construct houses along the road reserve. In view of this, we are saying that legislators should be sensitising their constituents,” he said.

Mwina said the country should not lose the opportunity to get better roads because of such challenges.

“For example, the World Bank has released money to cater for the construction of a road from Dedza to Kasungu and the road from Phalombe boma through Mpata to Nkhulambe. The contractor is on site but there are issues to do with compensation so the Word Bank has suspended the works and asked the government to resolve all those issues before the work resumes,” he said