He might not be popular like his predecessor nor is he considered an achiever by many but Blantyre City mayor still dreams big.
The Blantyre City Council (BCC) has announced plans to construct a four-storey parking garage to be situated along the Chilembwe road in the city.
The plans were announced on Wednesday at the Mayor’s Corporate Dinner organized by the city council.
Speaking at the dinner, Mayor Wild Ndipo said he is concerned about the lack of parking space in the commercial city and his council wants to act on the matter.
He said the council will construct a parkade which shall be developed at an existing car park located at the junction of Livingstone Avenue and Chilembwe Road in downtown Blantyre which he said will be 0.3 hectares in size.
“The proposed parkade shall have four floors with the ground floor accommodating commercial activities. Once completed the building shall accommodate approximately 300 vehicles, greatly reducing parking congestion on the main streets within the CBD.
The project is estimated to cost MKK1.46 Billion (USD2 Million), according to Ndipo.
“This is not small money. That is why we are appealing to potential investors both local and foreign to come forward to discuss with us on how best this project can be implemented in partnership,” said Ndipo.
He added that as a fast growing city, Blantyre needs proper transport infrastructure that can ease movement of people in and out of the city and noted that this can only be achieved if the city council fully controls operations of the bus terminals.
The mayor noted with regret that the city has a lot of bus operators that are operating illegally at Wenela Bus Terminal. He therefore added that it is in his plans to construct more bus terminals.
He said constructing a new bus terminal will ensure continuous use of the bus terminal by all bus operators, increase safety and security whilst reducing parking congestion in the city.
According to Ndipo, the terminal will be constructed at an existing land within Wenela area and it will also cost MK1.46 Billion (USD2 Million).
The aim of the dinner was to introduce Ndipo who was elected in January to people so that he should outline the plans the council has and highlight areas of cooperation with the private sector.
Ndipo said as a council, they cherish the support from the corporate world and they would like to engage the private sector more and move the city in the desired direction.
He added that they have embarked on a progressive journey and his leadership has no intention to disturb anything which was started by his predecessor, Noel Chalamanda but rather to reinforce and do more together.
