THE project through which Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) seeks to tap water from Lake Malawi in Salima to the Capital City has divided Members of Parliament (MPs) with some of them supporting it while others still feel there are elements that need to be reviewed before it proceeds.
The $500 million (approximately K360 billion at current exchange rate) venture was awarded to South Africabased Malawian, Simbi Phiri’s Khato Civils Limited through a restricted tender process in which six companies participated.
The project has courted controversy due to the absence of a feasibility study and an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and funding mechanisms, among others.
When he appeared before the Budget and Finance Committee of Parliament on Wednesday, LWB Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alfonso Chikuni, justified once again the project design, saying it was reached at to avert a possible water crisis that Lilongwe is likely to experience.
His presentation convinced the committee with its members arguing that finally they did not see anything wrong with the project and that, among other things, the controversies that the project has sparked might be because of failure by LWB to employ proper public relations strategies.
The committee’s chairperson, Rhino Chiphiko, assured Chikuni that the water utility has the lawmakers’ support and that he would be interacting with the Ministry of Finance to ask for support.
But in separate interviews on Friday, Public Accounts Committee (Pac) Chairperson, Alekeni Menyani, his counterpart at the Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Committee, Joseph Chidanti Malunga, and Werani Chilenga of the Environment and Climate Change Committee indicated that they still have reservations with the project.
Menyani demanded that a pre-audit of the project should be undertaken so that the public knows what has happened so far. He also wondered why the counsel of different stakeholders including Attorney General (AG) Kalekeni Kaphale and the Malawi Law Society (MLS) is not being respected.
“As a committee mandated to undertake oversight roles, we are still not convinced with how the whole issue is being handled. Should things go ahead without the scrutiny that is required and concerns raised by different stakeholders addressed, we will be setting a very bad precedent.
“A proper examination of the bid documents is necessary so that we also see the competitive advantage that one contractor had over another. We must also examine all elements of subcontracting clauses,” Menyani said.
On his part, Malunga also indicated that his committee still has reservations with the project even though the Budget and Finance Committee has endorsed it. He said the Budget and Finance Committee could possibly be looking at financial aspects, hence their verdict that there is nothing wrong with the project.
“However, as the committee directly responsible for water issues, we are looking at technical aspects of the project. What we are saying is that the project details must be brought to Parliament so that the whole House can scrutinise them.
“If the Budget and Finance Committee has no problem with it, that is fine. It is not unusual for all of us to have different views on a particular issue. It is impossible that all 193 MPs can have a universal view of something,” said Malunga.
His concern was corroborated by Chilenga who, albeit stating that his committee has not met to decide its stand on the matter, feared that Lake Malawi would be strained further if LWB starts pumping 50 million litres of water from it every day.
Chikuni is on record as having argued that the lake cannot be threatened by the project because “its biggest threat so far is evaporation”.
But according to Chilenga, government was supposed to be exploring other means of getting water to Lilongwe other than tapping it from the lake which is already failing to supply enough for Shire River. “The Diamphwe Dam Project was the ideal one and with the [ESIA] having already been undertaken, the country was sure of its feasibility.
Government should have found ways of compensating those to be affected by the project other than abandoning it. “We have to go back and see how we can address the compensation issue. Perhaps as MPs, we can convince government to allocate money for compensation.
After all, the people to be affected were already notified,” Chilenga said. A report on the project indicated that the compensations would cost about K14 billion and this apparently scared away the World Bank, which was expected to finance the project.
Minister of Finance, Goodall Gondwe, indicated that government would be engaging the bank again, saying “all is not lost on the project”. In the Salima-Lilongwe Water Project whose blank cheque was approved by Parliament, the contractor is supposed to source funds with government being a guarantor.
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