The Malawi government has awarded China’s Zhejiang Provincial Transportation Engineering Construction the tender to rehabilitate a 46 km stretch of road from Karonga to Songwe, near the border with Tanzania.
The project will be financed by a loan from the World Bank’s International Development Association.
Malawi Roads Authority (MRA) acting CEO Francis Dimu says the Chinese company shrugged off competition from bidders that included South Africa’s Conduril Engenharia, China’s Geo-Engineering Corporation, Kuwaiti’s United Gulf Construction and Portugal’s Mota-Engil.
Another road rehabilitation project, financed by the African Development Bank, is being implemented in the country’s northern region by German company Strabag International. The 46-km-long Mzuzu–Nkhata Bay road traverses a mountainous area and crosses two major rivers. The project forms part of the Mtwara Development Corridor initiative, which links landlocked Malawi to the Port of Mtwara, in neighbouring Tanzania.
Meanwhile, the Malawi government plans to upgrade the 272 km Rumphi–Nyika–Chitipa road, also in the northern region, from an earth road to a Class 1 bitumen road. The project is currently at the feasibility study and detailed engineering design stages.
The road passes through the Nyika National Park, one of the richest natural conservation areas in the country, and is close to the border with Zambia – hence, it will lead to increased eco- nomic activities between the two countries.