Several Chinese companies plan to invest in infrastructure projects in Malawi, the Southern African country's investment and trade promotion body has revealed.
Malawi Investment and Trade Centre CEO Clement Kumbemba says the prospective investors include China Railways Number 2 Engineering Group Company, which has submitted a proposal for the construction of a railway from the north to the south of the country.
“This is a massive project that has the potential to transform Malawi’s transport sector and help establish a seamless rail link between Malawi and the rest of the region,” says Kumbemba.
“We referred the firm to government experts, who have started negotiations with the investor,” he says.
Another firm, China Railways Number 3 Engineering Group Company, is considering three major projects, including the construction of a coal-fired power station in the southern district of Nneno at an estimated cost of $600-million. The other projects it has proposed are the rehabilitation of Malawi’s railway system and the construction of rail links at a cost of $250-million, and the construction of an airport in the resort town of Mangochi, on the shores of Lake Malawi, at a cost of $250-million.
Malawi is planning to upgrade its transport and energy infrastructure as the two sectors are crucial in supporting the growth of the key economic sectors of mining and agriculture.
Meanwhile, at a recent investment forum, Malawi marketed projects that included the establishment of an airport city in Lumbadzi, where the country’s main airport, Kamuzu International Airport, near Lilongwe, is located.
The project envisages a 120- to 150-room hotel with conference facilities, a shopping mall, a service station, over 1 500 residential houses, an office complex for airlines, aircraft hangars, agriculture export processing zones with factories, warehouses, a duty-free warehouse complex and a modern air-cargo complex.
“Airport Development, the public company undertaking the project, will be willing to go into public–private partnerships (PPPs),” says Kumbamba.
The Malawi government is also seeking investors for a $150-million project involving the construction of a dry port in the district of Machinga, in the south-east of the country.
Kumbemba says the dry port will serve as a logistics hub for Malawi cargo going to or coming from the Mozambique port of Nacala and as a receiving/dispatching point for Malawi cargo.
“Government would prefer to have a minority shareholding so that the port is run as a commercial entity,” he says.
The Malawi government is also promoting a $75-million project to establish a shipyard at Nkhata Bay, on Lake Malawi. “The project will be undertaken as a PPP. Government will provide the land and local personnel, while the concessionaire will provide the required capital for investment and the technical expertise, including naval architects and specialised engineers to construct and operate the shipyard,” concludes Kumbemba.