Further delays for Kyungu’s house
H
aving waited for close to two years for the construction of his official residence, Paramount Chief Kyungu of Chitipa and Karonga districts will have to wait a little longer before occupying the royal house.
The development follows delays by the central government to release funds for the project which stalled at foundation level in December 2022 at Mbande Hills.
In an interview on Monday, Horizon Building and Civil Engineering Contractors managing director Wakisa Simkonda said a sudden change of the construction site from Mbulu Hills to Mbande Hills affected the project.
He said: “The current site’s topography needed us to hire heavy machinery to clear rocks, shrubs and the landscape which took us weeks.
“When we negotiated for cost adjustment, it took time for us to be paid.”
Our independent investigations established that on July 29 2022, the contractor wrote Karonga District Council to request for cost adjustment from the initial K49 million to K74.7 million to meet the cost of building materials.
When asked to confirm the communication, Simkonda declined to comment.
Initially, the construction works of the K50 million house were supposed to take 120 days from November 2021.
Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture spokesperson Anjoya Mwanza said the construction works stopped because the contractor requested for the adjustment of contract price and not due to non-payment.
“The district council requested for a No Objection from the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority in May 2022. However, up to now the PPDA is not giving that authority. This has caused the project to stall,” she said.
