Jappie lashes out at contractor for awful Karonga-Chitipa road maintenance
Public Works and Transport Minister JappieMhango has lashed out at the contractor maintaining the Karonga-Chitipa road for poor workmanship.
The government has set aside K1 billion for the maintenance of the road, a donation from the Republic of China which constructed the road just four years ago.
“I am not too happy with the maintenance works; I was expecting much better job. More needs to be done so that the road reaches the level the government wants,” he said.
Mhango said this after inspecting the maintenance works on Monday after reports that the contractor was doing shoddy work, raising suspicions of corruption.
He expressed worry that the contractor was only focusing on potholes leaving out cracks which are a threat to durability of the road.
“I was expecting much better work than what I have seen. Nevertheless I think efforts were made to eliminate the situation of potholes, but more work must be done on this road,” Mhango pointed out.
A team of experts also inspected the road to find out why it has gone severely bad just four years after its construction and the assessment report is yet to be released.
Roads Authority chief executive officer Emmanuel Matope said the maintenance works underway would not be affected by the experts assessment report when it comes out.
He said there was need to maintain the road because it is an important economic infrastructure in the region.
Chinese company that constructed the road said the maintenance work was happening to protect its image and promote relationship between Malawi and China.
China Road and Bridge Corporation, Chief Representative, Rui Wang said the company had passed defection period which means it is was out of the contract.
“As you may be aware these sections were done in 2004 and some in 2009, though the handover ceremony was done in 2012. Every contractor when he passes the defection period then he is out of the contract.
“But for us we are doing this because this road was a grant from the People’s Republic of China and we want this gift from China to be good,” he said
Wang said the maintenance work is expected to cost the company about US$1 million (Approximately K730 million)
The 101 km Karonga-Chitipa road project was funded by the People’s Republic of China to a grant of US$70 million (about K10 billion) and was initiated by late President Prof. Bingu wa Mutharika in 2004.
The road started getting damaged barely a month after former president Joyce Banda officially launched it.
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They are saying government has put aside one billion Mk for the road repairs .( Donated money ) Contractor says, maintenance works to cost approximately 730 million . Zotsala ,who knows kuti zipita kuti ?
kkkkkkkk Nkhaniyi yapositidwa masiku angapo apitawo koma ochita comment monyoza ndi khumi kapena kuti ten okha baasi. hahahahaha koma onyoza boma akucheperacheperabe eti?
Despite that Dr Hastings Kamnkhwala/Kamuzu Banda’s regime was somehow abusive in the way it was ruling the citizenry, he was building infrastructures that might exist until the end of time. 3/4 of the main roads in existence today were built during his rule and imagine if all the roads which he built were like the one we are talking about here, Malawi would have been a laughing stock. Kudos to Hastings Banda for giving us the clue on how to build infrastructures, unfortunately since the advent of multiparty democracy such stands have significantly reduced.
Just four years mseu wayamba kutha. Then you say you are not happy because zigamba sizinafike pa level yomwe boma likufuna sure? Zamanyazi.
When you do zitukuvo for votes not for the country. This is the result. Though not an engineer, bt the idea of zigamba is non starter. The best shd be resurfacing
Chinese? The Koreans did Mchinji road almost 40 years ago but the road is still good. French did Salima Lilongwe road. Kamuzu remains the hero of Malawi. Matchona kuba basi ndi amwenye. Look at Likuni road. Midima road cannot be compared to Mulanje via Thyolo.
Zamanyazi sure, merely 4 years your roads are over! Abale musanatuluke m’boma miseunso yatha? How shall we remember Maliseche then? Kutelokotu kulusako is meant for a mere threat to the poor contractor so he should deposit K145 million to Mr pesident’s account for an office in mzuzu!! Za ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Chikhalilecho Kamuzu’s roads are still intact!! Imagine the 1982 Liliongwe – Mchinji road bt Nello’ Ell Tia Construction company is still fresh, pamene zanuzi zarhelatu………………………….. koma boma la maliseche ili abale!
KAMUZU !!
KAMUZU !!
KAMUZU !!
MHSRIP —ALL CONTRACTORS WERE SERIOUS WITH WHAT
THEY WERE DOING — NOW EVERYTHING IS UPSIDE DOWN !!
Only four years since the road was officially opened! It should not require maintenance so soon. The original work must have been poor since the traffic on the road is not so heavy – ‘heavy’ in the sense that not a lot of traffic passes along it.