Ministry of Transport and Public Works director of buildings Sam Ngoma says construction of the first phase of Mzuzu Youth Centre needs K6 billion to meet the December 2025 completition date.
He disclosed this yesterday on the sidelines of President Lazarus Chakwera’s visit, saying two thirds of the project is yet to be done.
Phase one of the project involves construction of the centre’s administration block.
Ngoma said K3 billion of the contract sum of K9 billion has been used, catering for 35 percent progress of the project.
“With a contract sum of K9 billion for us to carry out a project within 12 months, what it means is that some months had to be funded up to K1 billion.
“Initially we had K2 billion. We allowed the contractor to borrow for construction like a 20 percent advance payment. That was given,” he said.
Ngoma further explained that the other K1 billion was for preceding intermediate payment certificates with the arrangement being to fund the contractor progressively on site.
He said: “If funding has dwindled, you can see that the works on site also slow down. As of now, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has exhausted all funds for the 2024/25 financial year. As soon as funds for 2025/26 financial year [come], technically we will be able to finish by December.”
President Lazarus Chakwera did not make any statement during the site visit apart from being familiarised with the work done and the centre’s architectural designs.
Mzuzu City Youth Network chairperson Salome Kadadzi lamented the project’s slow progress and appealed for more resources.
“This structure will help us in many ways. Just like the engineer has explained, progress is there, but it is slow. We want the project to end quickly, please help us by allocating more resources,” she said.
The youth centre is being constructed by DEC Construction Limited, a Malawian civil engineering company.
For over a decade, the project has failed to make headway despite government allocating funding.
For instance, in the 2010/11 National Budget, the project was allocated K30 million while in the 2011/2012 budget, it got K20 million. In 2014, it received K200 million.
In the 2022/23 financial year, the centre received K1 billion for phase one, which involved construction of an administration block.
In a previous interview, Mzuzu Youth Association coordinator Francis Chirambo said the 15 percent allocation of the estimated K19.8 billion projected cost is a raw deal considering that it is the oldest project that has witnessed three ground-breaking ceremonies since 2010.
