Investors inject k330bn for ‘varsity hostels

Investors expected to construct hostels with  a bed capacity of 24 980 in the country’s public universities plan to invest $450 million (K330 billion) for the project, The Nation has learnt.

The investors—Old Mutual Investment Group  (Omig) and M&M Developments and Infrastructure—have atleast two and six years, respectively to complete construction of the hostels, which has been framed on a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement for 35 years.

Omig, which is expected to build hostels at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) Bunda Campus and College of Medicine under the University of Malawi (Unima), is expected to invest $25 million (K18.3 billion) for the hostels with a bed capacity of 4 700.

M&M Developments and Infrastructure, on the other hand, plans to invest $425 million (K311.5 billion) for the construction of 20 280-bed capacity hostels at The Polytechnic, Luanar-Natural Resources College (NRC) Campus, Unima’s Chancellor College in Zomba, Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must) in Thyolo and Mzuzu University (Mzuni).

Speaking on the sidelines of the Public Private Partnership Commission (PPPC) student accommodation agreement signing ceremony in Blantyre on Friday, M&M Developments and Infrastructure chairperson Isaac Nkosi said the firm, which hopes to start construction by July, will be finalising deals with its project financiers by next month.

“We are ready to go and finalise our agreements with our financiers in Europe and India and we are looking at finishing off the agreement with the funders by May end.

“Come June-July, we should be starting with work on site. The construction will be done in phases and once we finish the student’s accommodation with that phase, we will start accommodating them while we are constructing on the other side,” he said.

Old Mutual Malawi plc chief executive officer Edith Jiya said they plan to complete the project in the next two years using pension fund as well as other development partners, once they sign their agreement with PPPC.

“We are finalising our mandates to be able to put pen to paper. For us as an investor, the sooner the construction is finished the better because we will also realise the benefits of investment faster,” she said.

Unima pro vice-chancellor of the Professor Al Mtenje said the project will end accommodation woes the university faces.

PPPC chief executive officer Jimmy Lipunga said they expect the project to start after the three months window the inventors have been given.

Ministry of Education, Science and Technology  Principal Secretary Justin Saidi said with more students enrolled into the public universities, the country is assured of increased human capital and improved social-economic development. n