Vice President Saulos Chilima has ordered Plem Construction to redesign and reconstruct part of Chikwawa-Chapananga-Mwanza road saying the current works are substandard.
Chilima inspected the road on Monday morning and he deplored the poor and substandard works on the road.
“I have pressed on the Contractor, Plem Construction, to redesign the first 10 km that they have worked on so far as opposed to proceeding with the current poor design of the road. We would rather pay more and have a durable and quality road than continuing with what I have seen,” said Chilima.
The contractor told the Vice President that poor design of the road is because the road has less traffic.
But Chilima disagreed with such reasoning saying it is like planning on the assumption that the people of this country will remain poor forever.
“So the Contractor must go back to the drawing board. We can’t continue with the road in its current poor design,” he said.
Chilima also visited the Nsanje-Marka road and he noted that there is good progress as the contractor committed that the road will be completed by March, 2021.
He added that the design and progress of the road is highly commendable.
The Chapananga road and bridge also came into the limelight last week following circulation of pictures on social media showing significant damage to the road and bridge which was officially opened in 2019.
Malawians on social media demanded government and regulators in the construction sector to investigate Plem Construction over the Chapananga Bridge.
Social media users suspected that rains have easily damaged the bridge and road which is in Chikwawa due to shoddy work by the contractor.
