‘Extend rail line to Chitipa’
Rail transport is by far the cheapest. Not only does it carry a lot of passengers, but can haul goods in bulk. Malawi has had a relatively vibrant rail transport up to the mid 90’s. There was a regular passenger service that operated from Mchinji to Nsanje. It was a source of transport for thousands of Malawians who lived from the main road. It also encouraged economic activity as farmers in rural areas easily transported all kinds of goods to cities and urban centres.
However, in 1999, the United Democratic Front (UDF) government killed the rail transport system when they gave a 20-year concession to Central East African Railways (Cear) to run the rail transport. Cear opted to concentrate on goods haulage and ignored the passenger service, which was seen as a social responsibility. Instead of government taking over the passenger service, they ignored it as well.
It is only recently when Cear, now run by Mozambican investors, have introduced limited passenger service between Limbe and Balaka on Wednesdays, Balaka to Nauchi on Thursdays, Balaka to Limbe on Fridays and Limbe to Makhanga on Saturdays. While this is a welcome move, a lot needs to be done to alleviate transport problems many Malawians face. Passenger service needs to be revived full throttle to include all the other districts where the rail line passes such as Dedza, Salima, Lilongwe and Mchinji.
Government negotiated the initial concession with Cear in bad faith. The agreement weighed heavily in favour of the company at the expense of Malawians, especially those who were using rail transport. One can understand why the UDF government killed rail transport. Apart from ignorance on how important rail transport is, a good number of UDF top brass were operating buses and truck businesses. They wanted people to board their buses and hire their trucks. This was a very selfish and greedy motive, which eventually backfired as the poorly managed bus transport went under.
Details of what is contained in the new agreement, which was renewed a few years ago after expiry of the concession in 2009, are sketchy. However, government needs to take the initiative to ensure that passenger service is restored up to Mchinji. This means that where Cear is unable to provide service, government should take over. It should buy locomotives. If government does not have money, which is an expected excuse, they should endeavour to look for countries that can donate locomotives. The immediate country that comes to mind is China. Alternatively, they can procure a loan and buy them from South Africa.
Some of us remember with nostalgia how on Saturdays we used to go to Area 25 rail station to buy farm produce from farmers from Mchinji and rural Lilongwe. Government should also consider extending the rail line from Lilongwe to Chitipa to join Tanzania-Zambia Rail (Tazara) at Nakonde in Zambia. Malawi will have an alternative route to the sea using the northern corridor. More importantly, the rail line will also be a source of transport for thousands of Malawians from Lilongwe to Chitipa. This will not only ease transport problems, but will also spur economic productivity as farmers will have easy access to markets.
It is unfortunate and unacceptable that a country with a rail line is not utilising it for passenger service. There is no excuse for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government not to take the initiative to invest in rail infrastructure and transport. It is equally abdicating responsibility to let a foreign company like Cear to be operating passenger transport in a manner that does not benefit all Malawians. This inspires confidence that we have visionary leaders who can take Malawi to the next level rather than sit back, doing nothing waiting for outsiders to develop the country.
