Lilongwe to connect two villages with K11m bridge

Lilongwe District Council (DC) with funding from Local Development Fund (LDF) will soon connect two villages which have been disconnected since time immemorial by crocodile infested Nathenje River, Malawi News Agency (Mana) has learnt.

Secretary for Project Development Committee, Balamu Elisa, told Mana that the bridge which will connect Chisalipo Village which falls under Traditional Authority (T/A) Chadza and Sitima Village which falls under T/A Mazengera is an answer to their greatest need.

“The absence of a bridge was a great pain to us. People from Sitima had to walk for four hour to access the nearest health clinic at Matapila or risk being eaten by crocodiles to access Kang’oma Health Clinic which is 15 minutes away by bicycle. One person died after attempting to cross the river in January after being attacked by a crocodile,” said Elisa.

Elisa said some traders took advantage of the absence of the bridge to construct a make shift bridge where one would have to pay K50 to cross.

“Even though traders could construct make shift bridges, members of the community could either fail to pay K50 to cross or would be force to swim across during the rainy season as the river could swell up and sweep the bridge away,” he said.

Lilongwe District Council Director of Planning and Development Peter Jimusole, confirmed to Mana that the two areas had been requesting for a bridge which was causing some mobility problems between the two villages

He said the council could not build a bridge across the river as it did not have enough funding for the bridge until now.

“We have been receiving requests for the bridge from the two areas. Through the Public Works Project we maintained roads but the absence of the bridge made mobility between the two villages a problem. We went sourcing for K11 million for the bridge and today we are launching the project,” said Jimusole.

Lilongwe Msozi North constituency Member of Parliament (MP) who is also Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Godfrey Kamanya, in whose constituency Chisalipo Village falls under and Lilongwe Mpenu MP, Watson Makala Ngozo, in whose constituency Sitima Village falls confirmed pressing for the construction of the bridge.

“This river has been around since the creation of the earth. We have had governments in this country, we had Malawi Congress Party [MCP], United Democratic Front [UDF], Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] and it is only the government of Joyce Banda that has constructed this bridge. I requested for the construction of this bridge last year,” said Kamanya.

Makala Ngozo on the other hand said he has been requesting for the bridge since 1999 when he first became MP for the area hoping that government would one day grant him his request.

“Ever since I became a Member of Parliament for the area in 1999, I have been requesting for this bridge. I knew that one day our request would be granted,” said Makala Ngozo.