Stalled projects set for restart
The Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) has given Ministry of Youth and Sports the go-ahead to complete the Griffin Saenda Sports Complex and the Aquatic Centre in Lilongwe.
The approval has come almost one and half years after the works were halted.
In an interview yesterday, the ministry’s spokesperson Macmillan Mwale confirmed getting no objection from the PPDA.
“This means the ministry can proceed to unlock funds to complete the two projects,” he said.
Mwale said the sports complex project stalled because the contract sum changed from the initial K7 billion to about K15 billion.
He said: “This was because the scope of work changed to accommodate more sports codes such as basketball, volleyball, lawn and table tennis as well as handball while initially it was only supposed to have netball.
“The other reason was because of the 44 percent devaluation of the kwacha last November.
“So, the PPDA asked the Office of the Auditor General to audit the projects before making a determination which has now been made. As for the Aquatic Centre, there were no issues, but it had to be audited.”
Mwale said as a ministry, theyare now happy as there has been no progress since the two facilities hosted the African Union Sports Council Games in December 2022.
Basketball Association of Malawi general secretary Peter Gomani and his Netball Association of Malawi counterpart Yamikani Kauma described the resumption of the projects as good news.
In an interview yesterday, Gomani said: “This is exciting news for us because we will be able to host international tournaments. The facility is modern and I am sure it will attract both local and foreign basketball stakeholders.
“We have always failed to a bid to host our regional qualifiers because we don’t have a facility that qualified us. Therefore, this will change that.”
On her part, Kauma said: “We have been looking forward to the completion of the complex so that we can host international games.
“We also want to use it for national teams’ training because it is of international standards.
“It will help us specially for the Under-21 national team, who are preparing for the World Cup next year to get used to the indoors as well as the soft court.
“During the rainy season, we will also not be affected by the rains or any weather changes.”
