Lifestyle Malawi

Poor road construction costs Malawi’s taxpayers money

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Part of the 25 kilometer Nsanje-Marka road section currently being constructed by a Chinese Contractor, China Railway- 20 (CR-20) damaged

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Part of the 25 kilometer Nsanje-Marka road section currently being constructed by a Chinese Contractor, China Railway- 20 (CR-20), to the tune of MK11 billion, has been damaged by flood water, a development that has raised eye brows among the citizens in the district who think this is a result of poor workmanship.

Nsanje Civil Society Organization Chairperson, Mike Dansa, says they are vindicated on their concerns of poor workmanship, as they petitioned authorities on the same arguing some of the bridges would not withstand the district’s floods.

However, Roads Authority Spokesperson, Portia Kajanga, assured Malawians that as much part of the road is damaged, it will be a strong road.”

Kajanga said much of the works on the project have already been completed.

She said: “We still have to work on the protection works, drainage, sign posts and markings that are supposed to be done on the road before the project is handed over to us in the month end of May, 2022.”

According to Kajanga, this is normally experienced in Nsanje and Chikwawa districts because rivers tend to change courses when they swell.

“This is what happened, instead of going under the bridge, the water hit the embankment damaging it in the process,” she added.

During the rainy season, most roads in Malawi become damaged, a development which renders them impassable; causing numerous road accidents in the process.

Richard Kayenda

I hold a bachelor’s degree in languages obtained from Mzuzu University. Since 2016, I have been working for Maravi Post as a reporter of local news; particularly from the Northern Region of Malawi. My main news areas are politics, business, sports and many more. Besides reporting, I also write news analyses on current affairs just to share informed opinions on news that matter in Malawi. By now I have a five year practical experience in online news reporting and I look forward to growing more professionally while raising the bar of Maravi Post; in order to make it a household name, as we keep our readership informed, edutained and updated on a daily basis.