Tussle over dual carriageway project
A war of words has ensued between Blantyre City Council (BCC) and Minister of Transport and Public Works Jappie Mhango over the former’s decision to allocate space for construction of three service stations along the Chileka Road where a dual carriageway project was supposed to start last month.
President Peter Mutharika launched the K11 billion 16-kilometre Chileka dual carriage way project two months ago.
In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Mhango said his ministry demanded answers from BCC as regards to the viability of the project in the light of the construction of the service stations on the road reserve at Nyambadwe.
“As minister responsible for transport, I demanded an explanation from the BCC. They did not give me a satisfactory answer. But we want that road project to take off. As a ministry, we are not moving back and forth on this matter. No one should build on road reserve. We will not compensate anyone for encroachment. It is the council that allocated that land, therefore, they should know better on how to handle those developers,” he said.
But BCC chief executive officer (CEO) Alfred Chanza has dismissed Mhango’s fears and denied ever discussing any issue regarding the road project.
He said he saw no problem with the construction of the three service stations—two of which Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) CEO Collins Magalasi say were built without authorisation.
Chanza said: “The road project will go on as planned and the duration remains one year. The contractor is currently mobilising. Yes, as council allocated land to those developers and Mera approved the same. As for the minister, I have not talked to him on this issue. There are no problems so far raised by either the contractor or consulting engineers. But if need be, we will demolish any structures to pave the way for the project.”
He warned that no compensation will be paid on any developer, whose property will be deemed to be on road reserve.
“The law is very clear, if you build on road reserve that is at your own risk. We approved those plans [for construction of filling stations] based on prevailing conditions at that time. The atmosphere is so dynamic so we always change in response to time,” said Chanza.
Roads Authority (RA) spokesperson Portia Kajanga refused to comment on the matter, saying the issue was under the jurisdiction of BCC.
However, Magalasi on Thursday said two of the three service stations would not operate as they were not approved. But he was coy as to what would happen to them considering the impending road project.
“Mera did not approve construction of the two fuel service stations. The two stations did not declare that they were constructing fuel service stations. Therefore, Mera is not in a position to know if the developers were granted approvals by other authorities responsible for land and roads.”
He said construction of one of them began after September 2017 and Mera ordered the developer to stop.
“Construction of two of the service stations began before the new Mera regulations were gazetted,” said Magalasi.
He said the new Mera regulations, effected on September 15 2017, made it mandatory to obtain a construction licence from the authority prior to beginning of any construction of a service station.
The Mera CEO said the standards and requirements were developed to direct developers of new retail outlets on location, construction, licensing and decommissioning of the said outlets.
Earlier, BCC spokesperson Anthony Kasunda said in an e-mailed response that the service stations would not interfere with the project.
“There is no issue with the two facilities for the council to handle. None of the two service stations is being constructed on road reserve. The council has not received any legal challenge on the two,” he said.
