Over 72 hours of non-stop rains and heavy winds triggered by Tropical Cyclone Freddy on land-locked Malawi caused floods and mudslides in March 2023.
The cyclone, the strongest on record damaged power lines, roads and farmlands and livestock in 10 districts of the Southern Region.
According to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma), over 676 people died, while about 65,278 others were left destitute or displaced in 747 camps.
Rebuilding will be costly as the United Nations (UN) and other humanitarian partners in Malawi called for $115.9 million (about K120 billion) support to be used to assist community members.
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According to the UN, $70.6 million would be used to assist 1.1 million people affected by the cyclone, while $45.3 million would be used for cholera response.
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Like in many other countries, climate change is pushing many Malawians to the abyss of poverty. The country is susceptible to more shocks ahead.
More than 44 roads were damaged by the raging waters; 16 of which are major roads, 17 secondary and 10 tertiary. Over 40 bridges were also damaged in 15 councils.
It would cost over K29.5 billion to rebuild infrastructure in the transport sector alone, according to an assessment done in April by Dodma. At the time, the sector’s fund had a deficit of K 21.3 billion
The rebuilding costs exclude people’s houses which were damaged in numbers too.
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But the havoc has sent Malawians thinking again, especially on the state of infrastructure.
For years, there have been concerns over continued loss of billions of Kwacha each year due to substandard structures, a situation experts have decried as retrogressive.
Corruption during bidding and tendering processes, lack of capacity among some contractors and consultants and a quest for cheap labour, are among the contributing factors to poor workmanship in the industry.
Recently, the National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) brought stakeholders to a roundtable to find a lasting remedy.
NCIC Chief Executive Officer Gerald Khonje said redoing the substandard projects has proven to be costly for the government as it erodes the limited available resources, hence, the need to ensure quality from conceptualisation stage.
“If we have poor infrastructure, because of various reasons, the cost is very high as rebuilding costs more. But even if it could cost less, it will add to the costs that are already incurred.
“Quality infrastructure has no substitute. It is about the design, parties involved and the cost itself. No two ways about it,” Khonje said.
He said among other factors, infrastructure development has, over the years, been compromised by low compliance on standards by industry players, compromise on governance structures and guidelines, among other things.
“We have put in place a number of interventions to ensure that the industry has the necessary capacity. This includes the need for necessary training and experience and effective monitoring,” Khonje said.
Construction Sector Transparency Initiative Malawi Chairperson Joe Ching’ani called for transparency in public projects tendering.
He said meeting standards would also require massive investment, hence, the need for high quality workmanship and materials for building.
“We know what we want; quality is a result of quality. This is ranging from the budget, material used, as well as capacity.
“Quality is a result of presence or absence of good governance structures We need to engage professionals going forward and ensure that we put in place necessary resources,” he said.
Malawi Institute of Architects President Khumbo Chirwa also lamented political interference in public projects as one of the key challenges.
He said the country should “leave technocrats to do what they do best”.
“There is a need to understand that technical issues have to be left to specialists,” Chirwa said.
