World Bank shoots Malawi in the arm

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Karonga-Songwe border road

The World Bank has pledged to fund the rehabilitation of the Karonga-Songwe border road which will commence soon.

The project stalled earlier this year and some quarters blamed government for lack of commitment.

It was suspected that the bank was reluctant to fund the 46Km project due to the number of checkpoints from Karonga border to Mzuzu.

According to reports, the number of checkpoints run counter to World Bank’s intentions of speeding up traffic on the road.

Karonga-Songwe border road
Karonga-Songwe border road rehabilitation project gets a boost.

Now the bank has agreed to bankroll the project and Roads Authority Public Relations Manager Posha Kajanga said the project will commence soon after identifying a contractor.

“The World Bank has shown interest to fund the project and we believe end of November the contract is on the site,” said Kajanga.

She added that at the moment they have the names of contractors and are waiting for the evaluation of bids.

On compensations for people who built structures along the road, Kajanga said government will not give them any money because people are now aware that constructing structures along the main road is illegal.

The Karonga-Songwe road project is part of government’s plan to rehabilitate border roads in the country.