The Malawi Roads Authority (MRA) has contracted Portuguese company Mota-Engil to rehabilitate the 75 km Liwonde–Mangochi road.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) is funding the project, which is being implemented as part of the multinational Nacala Road Corridor Development Project (NRCDP), which seeks to boost trade activities in the countries served by Mozambique’s Nacala port by creating a seamless transport route. The NRCDP comprises several road projects in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.
MRA spokesperson Portia Kajanga states that the Liwonde–Mangochi road rehabilitation project will involve the reconstruction and widening of the existing road to a 6.5-m-wide asphalt concrete carriageway, with 1.5 m sealed shoulders.
“This road is of the utmost importance to Malawi because it links the City of Zomba and the commercial capital, Blantyre, to the lakeshore tourism sites located in the district of Mangochi,” she says.
The other road projects in Malawi being implemented under the ongoing Phase 4 of the NRCDP include the just completed Lilongwe West bypass and the 45 km Chiponde–Mangochi road, where construction is yet to start.
Mota-Engil also completed the construction of the Blantyre–Zomba road, in southern Malawi, which was financed by the AfDB under the NCRDP.
The NCRDP will also involve the establishment of one-stop border posts at Chiponde, on the Mozambique-Malawi border, and the Chipata border post, on the Malawi-Zambia boarder.
Projects in the pipeline in Malawi include the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Mzuzu–Nkhata Bay road, the Zomba–Jali–Phalombe–Chitakale road, the Thyolo–Thekerani–Muona–Bangula road, the Lirangwe–Chingale–Machinga road, the Nyika–Chitipa road and the Njakwa–Livingstonia road.