Mangochi residents’ taps to start flowing on Monday with water drawn from SRWB’s Nkhudzi Bay pumping station
The massive water project that Southern Region Water Board (SRWB) was constructing at Nkhudzi Bay in Mangochi is now complete and residents should expect their taps to start flowing on Monday.
SRWB Board chairperson, Brown Mpinganjira made the assurance on Thursday during a site visit by deputy Minister of Water & Sanitation, Liana Kakhobwe Chapota to appreciate the completion of the massive project, which was supposed to have been finalised in July last year but delayed due to court processes.
The project attracted controversy early last year when civil society organisations (CSOs) — National Youth Climate Change Network; Center for Environmental Policy & Advocacy and Movement for Environment Action — obtained a court injunction stopping its implementation, citing that they feared the project would harm the environment in the national park.
But traditional leaders in Mangochi, led by Senior Chief Nankumba, stood up and told three civil society organizations to immediately vacate the injunction to allow the project to move on.
They were backed by another CSO, Forum for Social Economic Development (FOSEMA) and the chiefs maintained that some of the supposedly concerned people in the three CSOs were not even residents of Mangochi, who did not know the importance of the project.
A few weeks later, the Supreme Court in Blantyre stayed the injunction that granted SRWB granted permission to restart the project, which stalled for some months.
Thus Mpinganjira said the successful completion of the project was a milestone for SRWB in its mandate to supply potable and clean water to its customers as he assured the beneficiary communities that come Monday they should expect their taps to start flowing with high quality, affordable and potable water.
“This is a massive projects we are excited for,” he said. “We are talking of over 92,000 households that this pumping station will supply — that’s a huge number of people that will benefit.
“For a long time, people have raised concerns that water from Lake Malawi has been underutilised. And it’s even ironic that people of Mangochi have not had access to clean potable water yet they are surrounded by a huge mass of water.”
He added that the benefits include low tariffs for low income earners as they will now be charged half of what Water Users Association (WUAs) currently charge.
The deputy Minister was taken on a tour of the station, the reservoir tank at the top of Nkhudzi hill as well as the intake, and she expressed her satisfaction and delight, while describing the project as a impressive milestone achieved by SRWB and its construction contractor.
“I very convinced that a commendable job has been undertaken here and I applaud SRWB and the constructor for a job well done in their mandate to provide the people of Mangochi access to clean water they have not had for quite a long time.
“We are happy to have reached this far as our target for completion has delayed for one year because of the interventions from other stakeholders, who took matters to the court.
“But despite those challenges, we have managed to complete the project, which is in line with the global Sustainable Development Goals number 6 as well as MW2063, which is access to clean water for all by 2030.”
She thus called on stakeholders to hold hands with government’s development projects, saying if there are issues of concerns, there was need for positive dialogue to address such challenges in order to map the way forward.
“We must always bear in mind that some some things are lost through developments of this nature but that shouldn’t stop us from carrying out such projects but with the help of experts from other stakeholders, we can overcome any challenges faced.”
Kakhobwe Chapota further said it was gratifying that people of Mangochi now have take pride in being provided with clean water from Lake Malawi, which is their pride as it provides for them livelihood through fishing.
In March this year, Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources & Climate Change toured the project to appreciate its progress and its chairperson, Werani Chilenga described it as one of the significant projects SRWB has implementing for Malawians in line with the MW2063 National vision.
“These are the types of projects that we should invest in and l am sure a lot of people will benefit from this project once it starts operating,” he told the media.
The MP for Chitipa South called on government and development partners to support SRWB in implementing projects in the country.
The remarkable facility has transformed the landscape around the community as it adds some ambience through its stately infrastructure of offices, laboratory, staff houses and the pumping and purification works.
The intake has a 300m-long pipeline into the Lake that also adds some ambience while the massive tank at the contentious site up Nkhudzi hill was decorated in such a way it blends well with the environment.
After purification the water is pumped up to the reservoir tank from where it will be feeding the whole of Mangochi through gravity, with just one booster pumping station where water needs to go up a certain gradient towards Mangochi Boma and other areas.
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