Member of Parliament for Phalombe North East Dennis Namachekecha has asked Government of Malawi through the Ministry of Water and Sanitation to complete the Sombani water project, saying the project stopped way back and there is nothing going on to ensure the project is done.
According to Namachekecha, the project was meant for the people of Mauzi Ward and Swang’oma ward in Phalombe North East.
He added that the project is very important for his people and if it is completed, people from these areas will start accessing clean water.
“I asked about Sombani water project, this project was meant for Phalombe North East that is Mauzi and Swang’oma. All the arrangements for the commencement of this project were done and FISD was chosen as the contractor for that project. Unfortunately, FISD did not complete the work. I am told the contract was terminated, the reason why it was terminated I really don’t know. But the truth of the matter is that people of Phalombe North East thought FISD was doing a very good job,” said Phiri.
According to Namachekecha, the people of Phalombe North East want FISD to continue the good work they started and complete the project because the contractor who replaced FISD did a bad job.
Namachekecha said if the project is completed the people of Phalombe North East are going to be in better health because right now they are drinking unsafe water which is very dangerous.
In her response, the Minister of Water and Sanitation Abida Sidik Mia said she needs to go and find out what happened on the project and why there is a delay in completing the project and she will get back to us.
Speaking to Malawi24, one of the Directors for FISD Frank Mwenechanya said they terminated the contract because Government was failing to pay them on the work they did.
“We did the work they wanted us to do and the work included mainly laying pipes but also constructing tanks. So, we did all that and then they came up with some other issues saying they suspected that water can’t go into the tanks we had rehabilitated or constructed.
“However, we had already informed government that water could not go into the tanks and the government said we should still construct the tanks. So, we said the easiest way was to drill boreholes and we did that and the payment was still not done and we said we did all the work you wanted but you are not paying us so with that we decided to terminate the contract,” said Mwenechanya.
According to Mwenechanya, after terminating the contract the company also went to remove the solar system it had installed but Members of Parliament and the District Commissioner stopped the company and promised to push the government to pay the company.
