By Pemphero Malimba:
The road is far from being paved for the flagship Salima-Lilongwe Water Project, with revelations that K10 billion is needed for compensation, The Daily Times can reveal.
This transpired when Members of Parliament (MPs) under the Agriculture, Food Security and Natural Resources Cluster courted the contractor.
The legislators have since raised concern over the request of K10 billion allocation for compensation to those who may be affected by the project.
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MPs say compensation should have been among the priorities.
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Salima Lilongwe Water Supply Company, which is under the Ministry of Water, told members of the cluster that they were seeking MPs’ support so that they could show government officials the importance of such an allocation.
The contractor who has been given the work is Khato Civils.
The company’s chief executive officer Valentine Kaupa said the compensation would see affected households between Salima and Chezi in Dowa districts vacating the area where the pipeline for the project would pass through.
Cluster co-chairperson Werani Chilenga said he was surprised to hear that the company was yet to acquire land for the project despite Parliament approving a K105 billion loan for the same project.
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“I am surprised to hear this because when Parliament approved funds for you to borrow money from banks to roll out the project, we never knew you had challenges like K10 billion for acquiring land. We borrowed huge sums of money to give you, yet [you]] don’t have land where you are going to put up that project. It’s like we are doing things upside down. We are not serious,” Chilenga said.
Ntchisi South MP Ulemu Chilapondwa concurred with Chilenga.
“Honestly, at individual level, is this the way we handle things; to say you have everything for a house and you don’t have land where you want to construct your house?” Chilapondwa said.
Kaupa said compensation was yet to be paid as the company wanted to tackle the issue once the contractor was on site.
“For the pipeline, the plan was to use pay-as-you-go kind of process. Due to issues surrounding the designs of the pipelines, we thought it wise to wait for the contractor to be on site. For now, construction of the pipelines is expected to commence after the rainy season for technical and logistical reasons,” he said.
He said the funds were crucial to ensure the start of pipeline construction works.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Finance officials are yet to come clear on the issue.
The project, which will see people from Salima, Dowa and Lilongwe districts benefiting through improved water supply, commenced last year.
This was after President Lazarus Chakwera assented to Bill No. 6 of 2024: NBS Bank plc and National Bank of Malawi plc (Lake Malawi Water Supply Project) Loan (Authorisation) which allowed the government to get a loan of K105 billion for the project.
This happened after Parliament approved a bill which allowed the government to borrow funds from the local banks in April 2023.
The contract for the water project, valued at over K500 billion, was awarded to Khato Civils/South Zambezi joint venture.
