Minister of Finance Felix Mlusu says Tonse Alliance Government expects to fulfill the free electricity and water connection promise during the 2021/22 financial year.
The Tonse Alliance led by Dr Lazarus Chakwera promised remove fees for connection of water and electricity. Currently, people looking to connect buildings to the national grid pay about K93,000 for a single connection.
Mlusu said on Friday during the 2020/2021 Mid-Year Budget Review Statement that government has started the groundwork for the introduction of the free services.
“Madam Speaker, the Tonse Alliance Government promised the people of Malawi free electricity and water connection. I am pleased to inform this August House that Government is working on a policy on free electricity and water connections. Implementation is expected to commence during the 2021/2022 fiscal year,” he said.
The minister, however, did not reveal what the government has done to fulfill its promises to cut passport fees to Kk14,000
On the promised 10,000 houses for security institutions, Mlusu said the Ministry of Lands has commenced the construction of the houses. He said K4.6 billion was released to Ministry of Lands to start construction of these houses during the first half of the year.
“Currently 231 houses are under construction in different sites across the country. Honourable Members are invited to note that site selection as well as number of house allocation per site were decided upon after thorough consultations with the respective security institutions.
“Financing for this project, Madam Speaker, is through a long term development bond that was issued by Government and raised the initial required amount of K21.0 billion,” said Mlusu.
He expressed confidence that the construction of security houses will have many other positive spillover effects including job creation for the youth and economic empowerment for Malawian entrepreneurs in the construction sector as well as all other sectors with strong forward and backward economic links to this sector.
