Blantyre plans bypass roads
Blantyre City Council (BCC) has announced plans to construct bypass roads to ease traffic congestion in the city, especially the Limbe area in the wake of growing population of motor vehicles.
BCC town planning and estate services director Costly Chanza, speaking in an interview when he gave an update on progress of the Masauko Chipembere Highway Rehabilitation Project Phase III, which now stands at 60 percent, said the bypass roads have been planned off the Robert Mugabe Highway from Mthandizi into Limbe and Chigumula via Soche Hill and Manja.
He said: “We have realised that the only thing we can do [to ease congestion] is to be proactive. We are also going to introduce these bypasses. For example, the road from Chigumula if we are coming from Thyolo, we have in our plans a bypass passing through Misesa up to Soche all the way to Manja other than passing through Limbe.
“Similarly, as we speak, we also have another detour from Bangwe to Mpingwe on the Midima Road [Robert Mugabe Highway]. This one is actually on track because we have funds to use to rehabilitate the road.”
On the dual carriage road project, Chanza said construction is set to be completed ahead of schedule in November.
The current project to rehabilitate and expand into a dual carriage road the stretch from Yiannakis Roundabout through Livingstone Road in Limbe central business district (CDB) to Illovo/Chiwembe Roundabout was scheduled for completion this November.
The K3 billion rehabilitation project, which started in March this year, led to closure of some sections to pave way for works as the contractor, World Kaihatsu Kogyo Company Limited, expressed fears that disturbances threatened timely completion.
