Upgrading of Kamuzu Barrage starts August

The upgrading of Kamuzu Barrage on Shire River at Liwonde in Machinga is scheduled to start on August 1 this year, says director of planning and development for Machinga District Council Michael Chimbalanga.

Chimbalanga, speaking at the district’s executive committee meeting on Friday, said the upgrading of the barrage will be done with funding from the World Bank.

The Kamuzu Barrage project is part of water-related infrastructure development of the Shire River Basin Management Programme.

Mota-Engil civil engineering will upgrade the barrage, according to Chimbalanga.

The current barrage’s gates operate manually while the upgraded one will be operating electronically.

In May this year, the Ministry of Water Development through Machinga District Council spent K146.3 million in compensating 29 people whose property is affected by the project.

Kamuzu Barrage was inaugurated in 1965 by Malawi’s founding head of State Hastings Kamuzu Banda. —Mana