By Emmanuel Chilemba:
Construction of a temporary water intake for the Shire Valley Transformation Programme (SVTP)’s canal risks missing its deadline due to the scarcity of diesel, The Daily Times has learned.
According to Limbani Gomani, the project’s deputy coordinator, the contractor—who is yet to go on site—requires approximately 40,000 litres of diesel per week to carry out construction project operations.
He said the authorities had since engaged the National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) and the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) on the issue so that they could map the way forward.
Gomani said this in Chikwawa District yesterday on the sidelines of a quarterly district stakeholders’ consultative committee meeting on the project.
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“These meetings are very important in the operation of projects as they give us insight and opportunities to unlock some bottlenecks which are affecting the project.
“So, we briefed them on the progress of the project for them to appreciate what is happening on the ground so that they can understand why there are some delays and, again, [we informed them about] strategies which the project is putting in place to make sure that water reaches farmers,” Gomani said.
He was quick to say they had made progress in the project, citing a canal which has been constructed.
Gomani said they were hopeful that Nocma and Mera would come to their rescue on the issue of fuel.
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The completion of the current phase is envisaged to aid farmers from Mwanaalirenji and Kambadwe cooperatives.
They cultivate maize, cotton, soya beans and paprika and are expected to start benefitting from the initiative starting from June next year.
Mwanaalirenji Cooperative Board Secretary Theresa Mwalija said their budget was K14 billion out of which K10 billion would come from SVTP.
“Currently, we are putting measures in place to source the other K4 billion. The cooperative plans to cultivate crops on 774 hectares. Among other things, we are planning to start cultivating cash crops, notably cotton, soya beans, maize and paprika, whose markets are readily available,”Mwalija said.
On his part, Senior Chief Ngabu described the multi-billion Kwacha flagship mega irrigation project as a game changer in terms of ensuring that the country meets its food security goals.
“That is why consultative meetings are essential,” Ngabu said.
Upon completion, the multi-billion Kwacha flagship mega irrigation project is envisaged to shift subsistence drought-prone smallholder farming to irrigated all-year-round commercial farming.
Among other things, SVTP, which is set to have a 118-kilometre canal, will irrigate 43,370 hectares of land by pumping water from the Shire River at Kapichira dam and conveying it by gravity to the irrigable area in Chikwawa and Nsanje districts through canals.
The project is financed by the World Bank, African Development Bank, International Development Association, Fund for International Development, Global Environment Facility and the Malawi Government with a budget of about $519 million (about K910 billion).
