President Chakwera officially opens Nkhudzi Bay water supply plant that is to cater for over 92,000 Mangochi households

* Access to clean water has far-reaching effects on the economic life of any community

* The benefits go beyond the obvious uses of drinking, cleaning, cooking, and bathing

* It prevents the spread of diseases in our communities, improves the delivery of health services in our hospitals

* And maintains an environment in which people can thrive mentally and emotionally

By Duncan Mlanjira

Delighted after officially opening Southern Region Water Board (SRWB) Nkhudzi Bay water supply plant, President Lazarus Chakwera said it made no sense that people of Mangochi were being denied access to potable and clean water yet they have its abundance through Lake Malawi.

Thus said he was delighted as finally people of Mangochi will be provided with potable and clean water they deserved, adding that when he inspected construction works in September 2021 — he interacted with engineers and SRWB staff “to motivate them to sustain and pick up the momentum of the construction work, because I had pledged to the people of Mangochi that we would expedite the work so that they could start enjoying the fruits of this project”.

“Today, I am delighted to be here to mark the fulfilment of that promise to improve and increase the provision of potable, safe, clean, and quality drinking water to the people of Mangochi.”

After inspecting the water purification plant, Chakwera also visited the intake from Lake Malawi at Mwanyama Village where he also interacted with some community members at one of the water kiosk.

He even helped some women draw water and he said from their faces it was quite clear that this was a worthy investment, adding: “The benefits of having access to clean water go beyond the obvious uses of drinking, cleaning, cooking, and bathing.

“Access to clean water prevents the spread of diseases in our communities, improves the delivery of health services in our hospitals, and maintains an environment in which people can thrive mentally and emotionally.

“Additionally, access to clean water has far-reaching effects on the economic life of any community, which is why my Administration has been very aggressive in courting and securing investments in the water sector of our country.”

He reminded the people that just last month he opened another water plant in Nkhata Bay of the Northern Region Water Board after he also commissioned the new Kamuzu Dam in the Central Region — thus the roll out of Nkhudzi Bay plant gives him “enormous joy”.

The project, which was funded by Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Affairs, stretches over a distance of 50km to benefit over 92,000 households and commercial entities such as hotels and lodges that are synonymous with Mangochi’s tourism sector.

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.

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. It requires the kind of political leadership we have seen from the Minister of Water & Sanitation, Hon. Abida Mia — who ensured that Government was meeting its obligations in the project.

“It requires the kind of governance leadership we have seen from [SRWB] Board, which ensured that the legal challenges that had previously hindered progress on the project were resolved.

“It required the kind of technical leadership we have seen from [SRWB] management, which ensured that staff were working consistently to see this project through.”

Chakwera was referring to a controversy that the project attracted early 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.