afrol News, 26 January - Malawian Deputy Minister of Finance has signed a loan agreement to finance several road projects in the country's impoverished extreme north. Improved infrastructure for years has been the primary development desire of local politicians in Karonga and Chitipa districts.

Malawi's Deputy Minister of Finance, Philip Bwanali, on Friday in Tunis signed a loan agreement worth US$ 19.54 million to finance a roads rehabilitation and upgrading project in the Karonga and Chitipa districts in the country's extreme north. The loan had been approved by the African Development Bank (ADB) last October.

According to an ADB release, the project aims to "improve accessibility and mobility of the rural population in Karonga and Chitipa districts to markets, social and economic facilities, and promote economic integration between rural and urban areas," in accordance with Malawi government policies.

- It will help improve the capacity and level of service of the transport system to support economic, social development, and poverty reduction programs in Malawi, the ADB document argues. "In addition, the project will contribute towards regional integration between Malawi and Zambia." Karonga and Chitipa districts are located at Malawi's border with Zambia and Tanzania.

At project completion, it is estimated that overall transport costs and access time to socio-economic facilities would be reduced by respectively 60 and 70 percent, according to calculations made by Lilongwe officials, who had solicited the ADB loan.

The project is expected to produce a two-lane 46-km bitumen surfaced road from Karonga, located at the shores of Lake Malawi, to Lufilya in the interior as well as the rehabilitation of five rural roads totalling 200 km.

An improvement of the poor infrastructure in the country's extreme north has for several years been lobbied by local authorities in Karonga and Chitipa districts. Politicians here blame the high local incidence of poverty on poor communications with the country's political and economic centre in the south.

According to Chitipa District authorities, the district is Malawi's "most isolated due to poor road condition, which becomes completely inaccessible during the rain season." The isolation of the district is said to "hamper all developmental efforts."

Also in Tunis, poverty reduction was given weight. "We welcome the efforts by the government of Malawi to create conditions for accelerated economic growth and poverty reduction," declared ADB Vice-President Theodore Nkodo during the signing ceremony.

In his response, Mr Bwanali invited the Bank to visit Malawi as soon as possible in order to ascertain that projects implementation is in line with the institution’s rules and processes.

The ADF loan will be used to finance 76 percent of the foreign exchange cost, amounting to US$ 16.58 million, and 49 percent of the local currency cost, amounting to US$ 2.95 million. The project's executing agency is the Lilongwe-based National Roads Authority.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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