Ministry says Marep 9 rolled out

Ministry of Energy Principal Secretary Alfonso Chikuni says government has rolled out the Malawi Rural Electrification Programme Phase 9 (Marep 9) with contracts for the construction of power lines signed and sites handed over.

In an interview yesterday, he said the contractors signed the contracts about two weeks ago and thereafter, the project sites were handed over.

Chikuni said the contractors are now at liberty to start construction.

He said: “Once site handovers have been done, there is nothing to stop the contractors from commencing work.

“The contracts were signed about two weeks ago and it was expected that within 28 days, they will be on site and will also have provided documentation.”

Chikuni said currently, the ministry is waiting for contractors to provide documentation for performance bonds, but also for contractors to indicate if they will need advance payments.

Earlier, the ministry indicated that contracts for the supply of materials totalled K71 billion while construction works were estimated at K9 billion before the contracts were awarded before recent 44 percent kwacha devaluation.

However, Chikuni said he needed more time to check on how much it will cost to implement the programme following the devaluation, and if the ministry had secured all the resources needed to implement the programme.

The programme was set to connect 416 sites to electricity.

In a separate interview, Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change chairperson Werani Chilenga said the programme has taken ages to roll out and feared that it will affect plans for Marep 10.