CONTRACTOR CUTS CONSTRUCTION COST OF LILONGWE-SALIMA WATER PROJECT IN MALAWI

The contractor handling the construction of Lilongwe-Salima water project, Khato Civil has reduced the cost from US$400 million dollars to US$315 million.

According to Khato Civils chairperson Simbi Phiri, his company has brought new equipment that can do the job swiftly.

Meanwhile, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources, Welani Chilenga, told the local media after the meeting that Khato Civils has cut the cost of the project from US$400 million dollars to US$315 million.

Quoting Chilenga, “Lilongwe Water Board had already pumped in US17 million and that has also been subtracted, bringing the total cost to US298 million (about K227 billion),”

He also noted that “We are also happy that Khato Civils have also shown commitment to continue the project with the new government.”

Lilongwe-Salima challenges

The Lilongwe-Salima Water Supply Project has always stirred controversy as the project, for years, failed to roll out.

For a long time now, the Lilongwe-Salima water project has been a subject of legal battles with the civil society taking the government to court for awarding the firm the contract before an environmental assessment was done, a matter which Khato Civils won.

However, the new Tonse Alliance administration has resolved the bottlenecks and allowed the project to be start in earnest which has seen the two sides held a virtual meeting where government was represented by Ministry of Finance, Department of Environmental Affairs and the Lilongwe Water Board.

The project is expected to provide water to the city of Lilongwe via a 120-kilometre pipeline from Lake Malawi once completed.

Source: Nyasa Times

Click on the floating icon on the right to subscribe. More so, please share, Follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to also like us on Facebook