Chakwera urges SRWB to maintain its momentum after successful completion of Mangochi’s Nkhudzi Bay water supply

Chakwera commissioning Nkhudzi Bay water supply on Thursday in Mangochi

* Includes stand-alone project at Cape Maclear in the same Mangochi District

* The planned Domasi multi-purpose dam; Thuchira water supply project targeted for Mulanje, Phalombe and Thyolo

* As well as other projects for supplying water to Balaka, Zalewa, Mwanza, Neno and Makanjira

By Duncan Mlanjira

At the official opening of Nkhudzi Bay water supply plant that is to cater up to 92,000 Mangochi households, President Lazarus Chakwera urged Southern Region Water Board (SRWB) to maintain the momentum and apply its formula for success to the critically important water projects that are in the pipeline.

He cited the stand-alone project at Cape Maclear in the same Mangochi District — one of the tourist hub of tourism along the shores of Lake Malawi — the planned Domasi multi-purpose dam; the planned Thuchira water supply project targeted for Mulanje, Phalombe and Thyolo as well as other projects for supplying water to Balaka, Zalewa, Mwanza, Neno and Makanjira.

“I want you to push for speedy progress on these projects even more than you have done here at Nkhudzi Bay, because water is such a top priority that affects the quality of life for everyone,” he said.

“In fact, as Government, we are already gearing up to reconfigure our focus areas for public spending to ensure that the limited resources we have are going towards priority areas that have the most economic and productive impact and not wasted on consumption.”

He announced that he has appointed Simplex Chithyola Banda as the new Minister of Finance & Economic Affairs replacing Sosten Gwengwe, who has been allocated to the Ministry of Trade, saying he expects Chithyola Banda “to implement the public spending reconfiguration exercise that is needed to maximize our limited resources”.

“In practice, some public programs that are accustomed to spending public money year after year without any productive end in sight will need to find other sources of funding to continue, because we need to accept the painful fact that we only have enough resources to spend on the things that will boost productivity and increase our people’s capacity for revenue generation.

“And this Nkhudzi-Bay project is a role model of money well spent [since] this facility isn’t just a building — it’s a testament to our shared vision for a better future and it’s a testament to our dedication to the well-being of our citizens.

“It’s a testament to our determination to leave a lasting legacy for future generations. This facility is not a handout. It is a hand up and we must put it to good use in unleashing the economic potential of Mangochi District.

SRWB is making progress in as far as implementing projects to ensure people have access to clean and safe water in line with the sustainable development goals number 6 that globally people should have access to clean and safe water by the year 2030.

At Goliati in Thyolo, SRWB solved critical water supply and sanitation challenges that Malawi University of Science & Technology (MUST) and its sorrounding community had been facing after a dam that was supplying a pumping and purification station was damaged due to the two tropical cyclones of Ana and Freddy.

SRWB solved the situation by drilling two 150-metre deep high yielding boreholes, from which they are pumping water to the purification station — thus successfully supplying water to the 4,000-plus university campus as well as its sorrounding community.

This was in response to the fact that MUST’s population is expanding, as they need about 700 cubic metres of water a day and will be needing more as the institution is constructing two major projects of an industrial park as well as an elaborate laboratory complex — both to needing a lot of water.

The high yielding boreholes to supply the Goliati community with 2,500 cubic meters of water, is a major shift of pumping from the Lichenza River, whose banks for a dam — that was constructed by Mota Engil for supply to MUST — were washed away by the two cyclones.

In an earlier interview, SRWB chairperson, Brown Mpinganjira said the pumping infrastructure shall be moved elsewhere leaving behind just the purification system as they work out on how the dam can be resuscitated.

He also announced that they have plans to pump water from Thuchila River to supply parts of Thyolo and Chiradzulu, saying the challenges faced due to the two cyclones has made them think outside the box.

He pledged that SRWB is set to grow together with MUST to meet the demands of the expansion of the University, which has made many strides since its inception just a decade ago under the vision of former President, late Bingu wa Mutharika.

SRWB also has a high yielding borehole pumping system in Liwonde whose residents had experiencing dry taps for a long time due to challenges that SRWB was facing to pump water from the Shire River, which is heavily polluted with water lilies that have been chocking submersible water pumps.

SRWB came up with the innovation by constructing a solar-powered borehole drilling system to address the situation and it has worked wonders.

Brown Mpinganjira said the Liwonde solar-pumped borehole system was a short term measure as they had secured a loan with the European Investment Bank and Exim Bank of India for a massive water pumping system which will cater for Liwonde, Balaka and neighbouring parts of Mangochi District.

Of the Nkhudzi Bay project, Chakwera applauded SRWB for overcoming challenges the parastatal faced last year when civil society organisations (CSOs) — National Youth Climate Change Network; Center for Environmental Policy & Advocacy and Movement for Environment Action — obtained a court injunction stopping its implementation, citing that they feared the project would harm the environment in the national park.

Because of the court processes, the project was delayed as it was supposed to have been finalised in July last year and it took the intervention of traditional leaders in Mangochi, led by Senior Chief Nankumba, who stood up and told three CSOs to immediately vacate the injunction to allow the project to move on.

They were backed by another CSO, Forum for Social Economic Development (FOSEMA) and the chiefs maintained that some of the supposedly concerned people in the three CSOs were not even residents of Mangochi, who did not know the importance of the project.

A few weeks later, the Supreme Court in Blantyre stayed the injunction that granted SRWB granted permission to restart the project, which stalled for some months.

The remarkable facility has transformed the landscape around Nkhudzi Bay community as it adds some ambience through its stately infrastructure of offices, laboratory, staff houses and the pumping and purification works.

The intake has a 300m-long pipeline into Lake Malawi that also adds some ambience while the massive tank at the contentious site up Nkhudzi hill was decorated in such a way it blends well with the environment.

After purification the water is pumped up to the reservoir tank from where it will be feeding the whole of Mangochi through gravity, with just one booster pumping station where water needs to go up a certain gradient towards Mangochi Boma and to Mtakataka Turn-off.

Thus Chakwera reminded the people that there is “need to remember that projects like this require collaboration to carry out”, saying: “Without working together, the challenges that arise in the course of any project can derail and delay progress.

“Of course, collaboration and coordination between various stakeholders does not happen by itself — it requires leadership at different levels to moves the various constituencies and stakeholders in a common direction.

“It requires the kind of traditional leadership we have seen from Senior Chief Nankumba, who stood firm in order to ensure the success of this project.”