President Lazarus Chakwera says the K15 billion Nsanje Inland Port is not a priority for the Tonse Alliance government.
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Chakwera said his government cannot promise to open the port anytime soon because it is looking to focus on railway transport.
He said the government wants to rehabilitate the railway road from Blantyre to Marka and connect it to Mozambique in order to have something that can work faster than what was envisaged.
“I wouldn’t promise that next week we will open that port, no. We want to rebuild a system that became non-functional due to other reasons,” said Chakwera.
The Nsanje Port was constructed during the reign of late Bingu wa Mutharika, who wanted to connect the Shire River in Malawi to the Indian Ocean via the Zambezi River.
However, Mozambique argued that the Zambezi River is not navigable and told the Malawi to conduct a comprehensive conduct a feasibility study.
Chakwera yesterday said that officials told him that Malawi made mistakes in constructing the Nsanje Port without looking into other things such as feasibility.
He, however, added that his government will continue to hold talks with Mozambique over the port.
“It is not completely something that will not be considered, but it is something that is on hold right now, it not something that is viable at the moment,” said Chakwera
