Secretary to the Treasury Betchani Tchereni has bemoaned the cost of poor infrastructure on African budgets, saying countries are spending a lot of money on repairing infrastructure that did not meet standards.
He, therefore, challenged engineers in the country to aim at constructing durable infrastructure to promote construction in the country as opposed to reconstruction.
Tchereni made the remarks at a meeting of the African Roads Maintenance Funds Association (ARMFA) Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Focal Group in Blantyre Monday.
The meeting, which has attracted delegates from nine countries, is for three days.
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“Every time we talk about reconstruction, it means that we had something [that is either no longer there or in bad shape] and now we need to have it back, and in good shape because it has been damaged by some other things. But, in this manner, we are talking about damage caused by extreme weather conditions caused by climate change.
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“So, for me, it’s about the construction of very strong infrastructure, including roads, or whatever it is. Those things should be able to withstand extreme weather conditions. That way, we will not be regressing,” he said.
Tchereni further said in the case of Malawi, it needs approximately $900 million (about K1.8 billion) for the reconstruction of infrastructure that was damaged when Tropical Cyclone Freddy made landfall in Malawi.
The cyclone made landfall in Malawi on March 11 last year, destroying private and public infrastructure as well as killing people and livestock, with property worth billions of Kwacha washed away.
“For example, just to reconstruct [infrastructure] due to Cyclone Freddy, we need $900 million for a country which, in many cases, fails to get above 600 million United States dollars from exports. That’s a tall order,” Tchereni said.
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Lesotho Roads Fund Chief Executive Officer Nkekeletse Makara, who is also ARMFA Sadc Focal Group Chairperson, said climate change has exacerbated problems all over the world.
“We have an issue of climate change, which is greatly affecting the infrastructure industry. We cannot be constructing roads that can be washed away time and again.
“However, governments must take keen interest in Roads Funds [entities] and support them,” he said.
The conference is being held under the theme ‘The Impact of Legal Frameworks and Climate Change on The Sustainability of Road Funds’.
