Digital project contractor dared to outline progress

Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information, and Communications has asked local information and communications technology (ICT) and Internet service provider Bengol.Net to account for progress in public projects it is implementing.

The committee said this during a meeting with the company’s management in Blantyre yesterday to appreciate their contribution to the country’s ICT and Internet service provision.

Bengol.Net is implementing a Malawi Digital Project under the public private partnership (PPP) initiative with funding from the World Bank.

During the meeting, Bengol.Net managing director, Mohammed Zafar Abdullah lamented that his company was failing to fully help in providing much affordable Internet services due to various challenges.

He cited persistent vandalism, resistance from some locals to allow the company lay cables in their areas, stalled purchase plans of Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) and failure to secure frequency from Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra).

Abdullah said if Bengol.Net completes the purchase of MTL it would only take two years to provide the services across the country that could otherwise take 10 years to accomplish.

But committee chairperson Susan Dossi challenged Bengol.Net to provide full information on the challenges so that through exercising its mandate, the committee could help out.

She also asked the company to always ensure that relevant stakeholders are fully engaged when implementing public projects.

Dossi, who conceded the committee was not aware of the issues raised by the company, said: “You seem to be doing a wonderful job with some decent plans but for us to appreciate your concerns you need to have clear narrative. That will enable us know how to help because some issues could be as a result of lack of proper coordination while others are due to policy issues.

“Regarding the issue of procurement of MTL, as a committee we are hearing this issue for the first time. So we will discuss how best to go about it.”

Currently, Bengol.Net has connected fibre optic cables in 18 of the country’s 28 districts and also connected Internet in most public offices, including some schools.

The company’s financial investments include an offer to acquire MTL for K8.5 billion and plans to rehabilitate the same with a budget of $51 million, fibre optic cable installation worth $1.5 million and a prior investment of $12 million. n

Additional reporting PETER CHIPANGA, Contributor