President Lazarus Chakwera today presided over the signing ceremony of a $6.8 billion (K7 trillion) grant agreement with Belgium-based Bridgin Foundation.
The grant will among others finance the production of up to 1000 megawatts of electricity, the construction of a modern hospital as well as the construction of the Twin Towers at Capital Hill. The grant money will also cater for the construction of a university in the Northern Region.
Speaking after the signing of the grant, President Chakwera said the coming of the grant shows that he means business in his quest to make Malawi a better place for all Malawians.
Chakwera added that all the parts of the country will benefit from the projects to be implemented under this grant. He also noted that Malawi will not be required to repay the grant.
“This year, heaven has smiled on us by allowing Christmas to come early for our country. Never in the history of this nation has there been a developmental program as momentous as the one we are embarking on today with the Bridgin Foundation, which has agreed to sign a cooperation agreement with the Malawi Government today, with the aim of investing 6.85 billion dollars into various projects over the next three to four years.
“What the Bridgin Foundation has done here is not just an act of kindness and generosity, but also an act of trust,” explained Chakwera.
Chakwera added that the grant will help realize his plans such as improving subsistence farming to commercial farming through the establishment of the agro-processing plant at the Lilongwe University of Natural Resource (LUANAR).
On his part, Prof. Tank Mouhamadou who is the President and CEO of BRIDGIN Foundation said their motivation is healing the world and as a foundation they are really interested in supporting the ending of poverty and hunger where ever it is more especially in African countries.
In his presentation, Finance Minister, Sosten Gwengwe said the funds target the construction of Inkosi Ya Makosi M’mbelwa University with Hi-Tech Livestock Industrial Center at $480 million as well as construction and equipping of a Hi-Tech bioscience and fertilizer manufacturing industrial part at LUANAR at $750 million.
The money will also be used for construction, equipping, and full operationalization of a Hi-Tech Kamuzu University Teaching Hospital in Blantyre with satellites in Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Mangochi at $1 billion; development of power generation facilities with total installed capacity of One Gigawatt and related infrastructure upgrade and transmission at $3.3 billion; and construction of Twin Towers at Capital Hill at $230 million.
Other projects include construction and equipping of Mzuzu University Teaching, learning and research facilities for geo-mining and establishment of Business Park at $592 million and construction and equipment of MUST hi-tech technology and engineering hub at $185 million.
