By Cathy Maulidi:
President Lazarus Chakwera has appealed to development partners to continue providing support to the water sector if the country is to achieve universal access to water and sanitation goals by 2030.
Chakwera made the appeal Tuesday during the commissioning of Kamuzu Dam 1 at Malingunde in Lilongwe.
“My appeal to you, as our friends and partners, is to keep this partnership alive until we reach our desired goal. There is still a long way to go to reach our 2030 target of universal access to water and sanitation, and still many challenges in this sector we must confront together,” Chakwera said.
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The President added that demand for water is increasing every day.
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He said the demand is not just piling up for domestic and industrial use, but also for the proper functioning of crucial sectors such as agriculture, tourism and mining.
“That is enough reason to stay the course. Another reason to stay the course is the sheer number of problems we will prevent by simply achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation,” he said.
Chakwera also blamed previous administrations for failing to invest in the water sector.
“When I got into office three years ago, one of my first missions was to set our country’s priorities straight. It made no sense to me that before I became President, government after government was passing budget after budget without adequate allocation of funds to the most basic things that the majority of Malawians lack on a daily basis. One of those basics is access to clean water,”
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“As far as I was concerned, it was a shame for a country in the 21st century to be so preoccupied with luxuries that benefit the few when the many do not even have basics like clean water,” he said.
In his remarks, Lilongwe Water Board Chairperson Inkosi ya Makhosi M’mbelwa V said Kamuzu Dam 1’s storage capacity has now been increased from five million cubic meters to an impressive 25 million cubic meters.
“This culminates in a combined storage capacity of Kamuzu Dam 1 and 2 of 44 million cubic meters —a remarkable achievement that has enhanced water resource security for the city from four to 12 months,” he said.
On his part, European Union Ambassador to Malawi Rune Skinnebach – who also represented the financier of the project, European Investment Bank— said the project has cost $22.7 million.
“This will directly contribute to the wellbeing of Lilongwe’s population,” he said.
Rehabilitation works on Kamuzu Dam 1 were supposed to be completed by November 6 2020 but the deadline was not met due to Covid and three cyclones, namely Ana, Gombe and Dumako.
