BWB to ensure timely completion of project

The Blantyre Water Board (BWB) has said it will ensure that its project that is aimed at boosting water supply to the commercial city is completed on time regardless of some problems.

Speaking when the Malawi Institution of Engineers (MIE) Southern Region Chapter members visited BWB projects on Wednesday, the board’s chief executive officer Andrew Thawe said the contractor has not been paid the initial installment.

“We have been experiencing problems with our donors on disbursement of funds for the project. We are discussing with the contractor that he should be able to complete the project within time regardless of the payment problems,” said Thawe.

According to BWB, the project is being funded by the European Union and the European Investment Bank and is aimed at upgrading the supplier’s major pumping stations at Walkers Ferry and Chileka and rehabilitate the pipes that connect the two stations.

After the successful completion of the project, production at Walkers Ferry will be increased from about 64 000 cubic metres to 96 000 cubic metres according BWB raising the board’s water supply capacity to 105 000 cubic metres.

BWB is also constructing three water reservoirs with a holding capacity of 5 000 cubic metres each in the commercial city aimed at mitigating water problems in some areas.

Speaking after visiting the BWB projects, MIE Southern Region Chapter chairperson Phideria Moyo said they learned a lot during the tour of the projects.

“MIE would want to visit as many projects as possible that are engineering in nature. As you have noticed BWB is implementing a number of projects that are aimed at boosting water supply in the Blantyre and we have learnt a lot from these,” said Moyo.

She added that because the engineers that visited the projects come from different backgrounds they have been able to learn something from the projects.