Parliament wants action on marine concession
The Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Public Infrastructure has urged government to review a maritime and shipping concession awarded to Malawi Shipping Company (MSC) in 2010 being run by Mota-Engil.
The MSC is State-funded firm that manages and operates Malawi Lake Services and Chipoka, Chilumba, Nkhata Bay and Monkey Bay ports.
Speaking when he presented a report in Parliament on Wednesday, committee chairperson Enock Phale alleged that MSC has breached its contractual obligations in managing five entities.
He said the committee carried out inspections and discovered no noticeable achievements that the concession has brought, saying the four ports are dilapidated and have no floating pontoons, jetting points and other key infrastructure.
Said Phale: “Key equipment has been lost at Chilumba port like forklifts and others. Other challenges include poor financing, maintenance of lake ports, limited service to customers and lack of busy activity at the ports.
“The committee also found that only Chipoka port is connected to all three modes of transport such as road, rail and maritime. However, infrastructure at Chipoka is also deteriorating due to lack of maintenance.”
He then urged government to review maritime concessions to revive the shipping industry.
“The committee recommends the ministry to review the Transport Policy with an aim of putting in place deliberate measures that would promote use of water transport that benefits the country.
“Government should further review maritime and shipping concessions so as to address their shortfalls. It should also intensify supervision of all ports on our lakes and all vessels to ensure quality provision of water transport services,” said Phale.
In his contribution, Likoma legislator Ashems Songwe (Malawi Congress Party) decried the deteriorating shipping industry which he said has affected the pride of islanders and every Malawian.
He said: “It is sad to see a huge fleet of non operational cargo ships at our ports. We have abandoned our robust strategic plan that was put in place to guide on the water transport services.
“The Northern corridor was properly designed to sustain both road, water and rail transport because goods would come all the way from Mbeya to Chipoka via Chilumba port.”
However, Minister of Transport and Public Works, Jacob Hara said his ministry is working on modalities to rectify the existing challenges in the water transport sector.
He said: “I won’t comment much on this report but I thank all members for contributing their thoughts regardless of their affiliations.
“I can assure you members that we are trying our best to correct these issues and in no time from now, you will not be hearing the same problems.”
When contacted yesterday, Mota Engil spokesperson Thomas Chafunya said “we will reserve our comment for now”.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport has announced an extension of a surveyor’s safety certificate on MV Ilala for three months after a safety inspection conducted by maritime surveyors proved the vessel was fit.
The ship’s safety certificate expired on August 4 2023.
