Tanzanian DC calls for joint planning with Malawi

District commissioner (DC) for Ileje in Tanzania Rosemary Staki Senyamule has said Ileje and Chitipa districts can easily attain socioeconomic growth if they engage in joint planning and implementation of development programmes.
She made the remarks on Wednesday during New Year’s cerebrations held at Chitipa Secondary School Hall at Chitipa Boma.
Senyamule said the need to execute development projects jointly cannot be overemphasised because, she observed, multiple challenges that frustrate socioeconomic growth of Ileje and Chiitipa districts are similar.
Ileje, situated to the south-east of Tanzania, is separated from Chitipa by Songwe River, which also serves as an international boundary between Tanzania and Malawi.
Similar cultures and traditions, intermarriages and cross-border trade are some of the key issues that bond people of the two districts.
Absence of viable and sustainable markets as well as poor road network to link the two districts to economically established regions and towns are to a larger extent blamed for underdevelopment in the two districts.
Senyamule then coaxed planers in infrastructure development projects from the two districts to plan for the construction of Mpemba-Isongole (Ileje side) and Mbirima–Chitipa Road, to link the two districts to Tanzara Railway Line and a highway to towns of Mbeya in Tanzania as well as Lusaka in Zambia and beyond.
“Once this road is constructed, Ileje and Chitipa will open up and this will help to boost the economic growth of the two border and isolated districts,” she said.
Senyamule said the road project can easily be financed by partners such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank and other cooperating partners affiliated to the development of African countries through the Regional Window.
“Resources from Regional Window are used to support projects jointly implemented by two countries as long as it is evident the projects intend to serve the interests of people of the two countries,” she said.
Her counterpart, Chitipa DC Grace Chirwa, hailed the cordial relationship flourishing between the two districts which, she said, has to be promoted for the continued benefit of people of the two sides.
Chirwa said people of the two districts are one, going by their cultures and traditions and other aspects of life, adding that no element can divide them.
Chirwa was, however, non-committal on suggestions by Senyamule to engage technocrats of the two districts to start planning for the construction of the road that runs from Mpemba to Chitipa because the council’s hands are tied on the matter.
She said decisions and plans to implement high-class road infrastructure projects rest in the hands of the Roads Authority (RA).