Parliament yesterday authorised the Malawi Government to borrow K2 billion for rehabilitation of the M5 Lakeshore Road.
According to Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe, Malawi will borrow K2 billion from Development Fund (ADF) and ADF will provide a K63 billion grant to Malawi.
“There was a lot of noise out there that there is no way an institution would give a Grant of K63 billion without a Match, and I want to emphasize Honorable Deputy Speaker that this Bill has a K2 billion component for loan and K63 billion for Grant without any Match condition,” Gwengwe told Parliament.
Members of Parliament from both the opposition and government sides supported the bill.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator for Blantyre North Francis Phisso described the bill as “good borrowing.” He then urged government to consider other roads in Blantyre, Zomba and Machinga.
Mzimba South East MP Ackson Kalaile Banda said it is unfortunate that the M5 Road has taken so long to be considered.
“In Nkhotakota we have sugar factories and the companies have been struggling to transport sugar because sometimes the road is impassable. We thank the president for considering this road,” said Kalaile Banda.
On his part, Member of Parliament for Nkhata-Bay South East Noah Chimpeni said people currently struggle to travel to Nkhata-Bay due to the poor state of the M5 Road and these problems will end when the road is rehabilitated.
He also proposed that tollgates should be constructed on the road when it is rehabilitated.
“The money raised will be used for other infrastructure projects in the district,” the MP said.
