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| Business |
| Shire needs no canal digging, say experts |
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by
Taonga Sabola, 20 June 2005
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14:46:11
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Experts in the transport industry say there will be no need to dig a canal in the much talked about Shire-Zambezi waterway as the Shire river already has a natural waterway for navigation.
President Bingu wa Mutharika has been announcing government’s proposal to construct a canal which will help Malawi to have easy access to the Indian Ocean and, therefore, reduce its expenditures on transport.
The six billion Kwacha integrated project is expected to rehabilitate the rail line to Nsanje as well as improve the condition of the road to Nsanje.
Briefing the press in Nsanje director of transport planning in the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Victor Lungu, said the Shire waterway has been used by vessels in the past but it was only interrupted by the war in Mozambique.
“Until 1975 we had vessels coming from Mozambique to Nsanje to carry molasses and the Shire river has proved to be navigable.
“Even the early missionaries like David Livingstone used the same waterway to come to Malawi,” said Lungu.
Deputy director of marine department Owen Singini said for a ship to sail effectively it demands depth of water of about two metres and that the Shire river provides that depth.
“We don’t need to dig a canal as it will be an extremely expensive project. We are lucky as a nation because God g gave us a waterway in Shire.
“The only challenges we may have are a few shallow places where we may have to increase the depth by a metre and mashes which need to be cut by a machine like the one used by Escom to remove weeds at Liwonde Barrage,” said Singini.
He added that in the rivers current state, a vessel like the Karonga could easily navigate on it.
Singini, however, said developing a port at Nsanje to handle huge loads of incoming goods will require enough land and also time ranging from five to seven years.
The Shire-Zambezi waterway is expected to reduce the country’s transportation costs which is among the highest in the world and is estimated to contribute 30 percent to the cost of exports and 50 percent or above to import costs representing about US 175 million total annual import bill which is currently growing at the rate of seven to eight percent annually.
The waterway will provide a 238 kilometre link between Nsanje port and Chinde on the shores of the Indian Ocean and will provide alternatives to people bringing in cargo into the country which will in turn bring down costs.
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