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| Opinion |
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by
Editor, 24 February 2007
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09:10:42
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Bridge on Zambezi is a serious matter for government
It’s possible government all along knew about the intention of the Mozambican government to build a 2-km bridge on the Zambezi that would block President Bingu wa Mutharika’s dream in colour to liberate Malawi from the york of being a landlocked country, yet this was never raised in the many pronouncements and interviews where the Shire-Zambezi Waterway was mentioned.
Instead, investors were only being told to take advantage of the opportunities the multi-million dollar project would bring—a modern city at Nsanje, complete with an international airport and an unprecedented chance to make money by providing goods and services to a mixed market comprising people from Malawi and other users of the waterway from the Sadc and Comesa regions.
Probably the thinking was as Transport and Public Works minister Henry Mussa states in our story that the bridge on the Zambezi is a high level issue being tackled by policy makers in Malawi and Mozambique, hence no need for the public to know about it.
Unfortunately, this kind of patronage does not help the interest of investment in the project—whether investment of private capital or the public’s mere confidence in the colourful dream of the Shire-Zambezi Waterway. Why should we believe that the construction of the bridge will not continue when the Mozambican embassy clearly says the project already started last March by a Portuguese construction company and is slated for completion in 2009?
Even the fact that the construction of the bridge is currently halted is explained differently by officials from Malawi and Mozambique. Mussa wants to make us believe it’s because Maputo wants to accommodate our interest but the embassy says the project has only been temporarily suspended because of the rains. Which is which?
Since the memorandum of understanding between Malawi and Mozambique has not yet been signed, and considering that government is only reacting after some official felt the public has the right to know about a development that sent “shock waves” in the ministry of Transport and Public Works, one can be forgiven to adopt a wait-and-see attitude in case what the government is saying could turn out to be another colourful dream that remained only a dream. |
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