Tonse Govt plans to modernise Malawi’s cities

Vice President Saulos Chilima says the Tonse administration will modernise the country’s four cities and establish a fertilizer manufacturing company as part of reforms.

Chilima who is also Minister of Economic Planning and Public Sector Reforms revealed this during the signing ceremony of reforms performance contracts between President Lazarus Chakwera and cabinet ministers at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe today.

The Vice President said the Tonse administration is looking at modernization of the four cities (Lilongwe, Mzuzu, Blantyre and Zomba) in terms of dualisation of all the road networks in the cities.

These are under infrastructure development and management reforms which Chilima said will facilitate the development and management of safe, affordable and equitable infrastructure to improve access to inclusive social and public services.

Other reform projects which Chilima mentioned include the establishment of fertilizer manufacturing company and implementation of a turnaround strategy for ADMARC which will improve the fortunes of ADMARC.

There are also plans to turn around ESCOM and improve EGENCO’s performance in order to double the electricity generation capacity of the country.

Chilima further mentioned the establishment of secondary cities which will have village industries, processing plants and organized markets.

According to Chilima, his ministry has engaged district councils and through this has observed that there are unique opportunities for each council. In Nkhotakota there are plans to construct an industrial park, in Thyolo the council is looking at boosting milk production while Chitipa council seeks to promote coffee production and tourism.

Chilima in his speech thanked Chakwera for supporting the implementation of public sector reforms by his ministry.

“It is everyone’s hope that the implementation of the reforms will lead to a result oriented high performing public service that facilitates positive transformation of the economy and the country’s transformation,” said Chilima.