By Vincent Gunde
President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera has urged the Southern Region Water Board (SRWB) to maintain its momentum and apply its formula for success to the critically important water projects that are in the pipeline.
Dr. Chakwera said he had in mind that the stand-alone project at Cape Maclear, the planned Domasi Multi-purpose Dam, the planned Thuchira Water Supply project for improving water provision services to the people of Mulanje, Phalombe as well as other projects for supplying water to Balaka, Zalewa, Mwanza, Neno and Makanjira are some of the important projects that must seriously looked at.
Speaking at Nkhudzi-Bay in Mangochi on Thursday at the commissioning of the Mangochi Water Supply extension project, President Chakwera urged the SRWB to push for speedy progress on those projects even more than done at Nkhudzi-Bay because water is such a top priority that affects the quality of life for everyone.
The Malawi leader said it made no sense to him that the people of Mangochi were being denied access to the water they see around them everyday due to the lack of investment in systems for the treatment and distribution of water.
He said he is happy that the SRWB has finally given the people of Mangochi the water they deserve and this gives him enormous joy to commission the project under the Southern Region Water Board (SRWB) which is projected to benefit over 92,000 people in Mangochi including families and commercial entities such as hotels and lodges that are critical to Mangochi’s tourist sector.
“People need to remember that projects like this require collaboration, without working together, the challenges that arise in the course of any project can derail and delay progress,” said Dr. Chakwera.
He said the Government is geared up to reconfigure focus areas for public spending to ensure that the limited resources the country has, are going towards priority areas that have the most economic and productive impact and not wasted on consumption.
President Chakwera said he has appointed Hon. Simplex Chithyola Banda as the new Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs to implement the public spending reconfiguration exercise that is needed to maximize the country’s limited resources.
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