Malawi Government has conceded facing challenges to pay contractors working on the M1 rehabilitation between Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) junction and Rumphi due to depletion of project resources.
Minister of Transport and Public Works Jappie Mhango said on Saturday after inspecting the poor state of the road in Chiweta, Rumphi that the last payments were made in July 2025
He said: “Some people think it is this [Democratic Progressive Party] government that has created this problem, it’s not! When we took over government last year in September, all contractors for the M1 rehabilitation were last paid in July 2025. All the money meant for this project had been used.
| Malawi News Agency
“That’s what has created the problem, so much so that for he whole year we have been struggling a lot to meet our obligations to pay contractors on time when their certificates fall due because all money that the EIB [European Investment Bank] had deposited with the Reserve Bank of Malawi, had been used for other things.”
In the meantime, the road condition has worsened between Chiweta and Karonga where fuel trucks and other heavy vehicles are failing to navigate.
The M1 is Malawi’s lifeline and the sole north-south artery linking the landlocked country to the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania for fuel, fertiliser, medicines, food and other imports.
The road rehabilitation project was funded by the EIB but, according to Mhango, by July last year, two months before the September 16 2025 General Election, all funds meant for the project had been spent, leaving no resources to pay contractors.
To deal with the challenge, especially in Chiweta escarpments where four sections are heavily damaged, Mhango said the government has engaged the same contractor for Lot 4, China Henan International Cooperation Group (Chicco) on a subcontract using local resources to temporarily deal with the situation.
“That should be done in two weeks,” he said.
Roads Authority (RA) chief executive officer Engineer Joel Longwe said as the temporary works are on course, they have designated two graders to help tow vehicles that are stuck at night, and one during the day.
“In the rehabilitation, we are taking out all the soft material, bringing in gravel and concrete pad coming on top of the gravel. We are doing this in all difficult areas,” he said, stressing that such works will make the road passable during rains.
In a written response, Transporters Association of Malawi (TAM) spokesperson Frank Banda said addressing the poor condition of the Chiweta Road is important for improving transportation efficiency, reducing operating costs and ensuring the reliable movement of goods.
“We are asking the government to have a permanent solution for Chiweta since it’s the backbone of our economy. And this is the same route in which the government is collecting a lot of taxes. So it has to be given priority,” he said.
China Jiangxi International is working on the 102-kilometre (km) Lot 1 from KIA junction to Kasungu Boma while Mota-Engil is handling 85.5km Lot 2 from Kasungu Boma to Jenda in Mzimba. The 46.5km Lot 3 from Jenda to Mzimba Boma junction is being undertaken by Unik Construction Engineering while 66.5km Lot 4 from Kacheche to Chiweta is handled by China Henan International Company Limited.
In November 2019, the Malawi Government and the European Union (EU) signed a financial agreement for 139 million euro as contribution towards the rehabilitation of the M1. Of the amount, 95.5 million euro was a loan from EIB and 43.1 million euro was a grant from the EU.
The rehabilitation of the M1 is a focus of the EU’s global gateway strategy for infrastructure development in Africa.
