Local businessman Napoleon Dzombe has criticised delays in Malawi’s investment approval process, saying they slowed down plans to build his Mulalo Granular Fertiliser Production Factory in Dowa.
Dzombe made the remarks on Wednesday when he appeared before a joint parliamentary committee investigating delays in approving the project.
He said the factory is meant to help improve access to fertiliser in the country, but administrative delays affected its progress.
“I feel I was not welcomed in this country to undertake projects that would help my own country. I am thinking that I am in a wrong country,” said Dzombe.
He said the delays also affected the confidence of banks and other institutions in the project, although no public official asked him for money.
“Delays like these have made banks and other institutions think we are not serious,” he said.
Dzombe also questioned the K10 million environmental assessment fee charged by the Malawi Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), saying the cost and lengthy approval process discourage investors.
He told lawmakers that he had previously lost K500 million after a planned international bus terminal project failed.
Dzombe said he delayed paying some fees because he was unsure whether the investment process was benefiting the country or himself. He also compared Malawi’s investment environment with opportunities he had been offered in Mozambique.
On the land for the factory, Dzombe said the 26-hectare site legally belongs to him. He explained that it was surveyed in 1971 and a title deed was issued in 1979, although the document was later misplaced.
Meanwhile, MEPA Executive Director Dr Wilfred Kadewa told the committee that the environmental approval process for the fertiliser plant has now been completed and approved by the authority’s board.
Kadewa said most of the delays were caused by the developer’s failure to address concerns raised by MEPA, including hazardous waste handling, safety measures, wastewater management, emergency preparedness, factory emissions, phosphogypsum risks and the plant’s proximity to the Kang’oma River.
He said the developer later addressed the concerns, allowing the board to approve the project.
The parliamentary committee, made up of members from the environment and trade committees, is investigating the delays and gathering information from stakeholders involved in the project.
