Parliament passes K442bn financing bills
Parliament has passed two financing bills worth approximately K442 billion to fund the rehabilitation of the Mangochi-Makanjira Road and regional initiatives to improve the country’s resilience to weather-related disasters.
The members of Parliament passed the Saudi Fund for Development Loan Authorisation and Ratification Bill that would pave the way for the government to borrow 75 million Saudi Riyal (about $20 million or approximately K34 billion) from the Saudi Fund to rehabilitate the Mangochi-Makanjira road.
Presenting the Bill, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola-Banda said the loan, which will be repaid over 20 years with an additional five-year grace period, will improve connectivity between Mangochi and Makanjira all the way to Mozambique.
In an interview on the sidelines of a Parliamentary meeting, he said: “This is a project that has been politicised for a long time despite its obvious importance to the people of Mangochi and the surrounding areas.”
According to the Saudi Fund for Development Loan Authorisation Bill, the project will increase regional trade opportunities, reduce transportation costs and travel time.
On the second financing bill, the International Development Association (IDA) authorises the government to secure a grant from the World Bank of about 182.7 million special drawing rights (about $240 million or about K408 billion to improve the country’s resilience to water-related climate shocks such as floods.
The grant will be used to support the Regional Climate Resilience Programme for Eastern and Southern Africa, a 10-year programme that seeks to protect people from exposure to water-related climate shocks by developing protective and resilient infrastructure, improved disaster risk management, and social protection systems
Chithyola-Banda said the bill would help the government improve the country’s capacity to prepare and counter weather-relates shocks such as Cyclone Freddy which killed more than 1 000 people, displaced 600 000 others and destroyed farmlands in some parts of the Southern Region.
The leaders of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and United Democratic Front supported the bills considering its strategic value to the economy.
