Malawi courts ship building investors

The Department of Marine Services is looking for more investors for ship-building and repair facilities at Dindano in Nkhata Bay being championed by the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, an official has said.

The project involves the establishment of ship-building and ship repair facilities on the shores of Lake Malawi through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) under what is called Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT).

Speaking in an interview in Lilongwe on Friday director of marine services Laston Makuzula said in an interview this is a viable project which has excited a number of investors.

He said: “We are still looking for more investors while at the same time following up with those who expressed interest during this year’s Malawi Investment Forum [MIF].

“One investor from Holland expressed serious interest and we are also following up with him. The potential of Lake Malawi is huge and if we can have our own ship-building yard, we will reduce costs for building ships as they will be assembled locally.”

Makuzula said the country spends more money to import ship components, which are brought into the country in bits and pieces.

“Lake Malawi has huge potential for ship operations and currently we are facing challenges because ships are built in foreign countries and dismantled before being brought into the country for assembly at Monkey Bay in Mangochi.”

A statement from the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (Mitc) says all building structures at Dindano in Nkhata Bay are completely torn down and new infrastructure needs to be constructed.

The expected structures include fitted workshops capable of designing, fabricating, fitting and painting different sizes of vessels for transportation of various cargoes and passengers.

Government, through the Department of Fisheries will provide a concession to the qualifying project promoters. n