By Durrell Namasani
The Minister of Lands, Deus Gumba on Wednesday relaunched the country’s research vessel, Timba at an event that took place
in Monkeybay , Mangochi,
After 18 years without sailing on Lake Malawi, the Chakwera administration has re-commissioned the Research Vessel known as RV Timba on the Waters of Lake Malawi
Writing on his social Media handles to give more details of the event , Gumba said the commissioning will help Survey department on hydrographic matters on Lake Malawi and other lesser water bodies , Malombe, Chilwa, Shire river and others.
This has been the case after both engines of the ship broke down in 2006.
“Today is a day worthy cerebrating as the ship is now back on its foot” said Gumba.
The Minister went on to say “The importance of this ship cannot be over emphasized as it supports marinetime trade such as business on water like exporting fuel, safety of navigation, protection of marine environment such as protecting pollution in water, national infrastructure development, coastal zone management, marine exploration of minerals, fishing oil, oil gas exploration, marine boundary delimitation and marine time defense and security for Malawi Defence Force (MDF).”
The ship is equipped with GPS for navigation, multibeam echosounder for calculation of depths below the water and toll fish for selsmic Survey below the water.
The other good side of the ship is that it would bring revenue to government coffers. The University of Syracuse of USA has already hired the ship for almost two months at the rate of MK1,650,000 per day.
After realizing the importance of the ship, government has repaired the ship by installing it with new Caterpillar Engines.
Malawi started it’s hydrographic Survey on Lake Malawi in the 1950s by the colonial government. RV Timba was assembled in 1989 by the French and Malawi Govt Cooperation.
