Make Blantyre compact,vertical city—experts

Urban planning consultants in the Blantyre Urban Structure Plan Project have recommended that the city should be more compact by expanding the central business district (CBD) vertically.

Speaking during the launch of the Blantyre Urban Structure Plan Wider Stakeholders Outreach on Friday, GK Works (Malawi)-Urban Dynamics (Namibia) representative engineer George Kajanga said the city’s horizontal expansion has affected its socio-economic activities.

He said the city is active for few daytime hours because people that carry out various businesses come from areas far away from the CBD.

“The structure plan, which is expected to be carried out in the next 15 years, is trying to develop a compact city which means that most of the infrastructure and the people are found in a smaller place; hence, our cities will grow vertically rather than horizontally,” said Kajanga.

He said the project will review the undeveloped spaces within Blantyre CBD and Limbe and encourage the next developers to build structures that will enable more people to live within the CBD.

Kajanga said the project will also review the current city construction standards to match the aspirations of the compact cities.

Blantyre City deputy mayor Funny Balaba Kanojerera said the council is satisfied with the proposed changes.

“The proposed Blantyre Urban Structure Plan has looked at various areas, including livelihood and environment,” he said.

He said the city has already partnered with the Malawi Police Service in ensuring that residents are safe.

Implementation of the plan, which is being supported by the World Bank and the Malawi Government, is expected to roll out in February 2024.