The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Sanitation, Elias Chimlambe, has described the purchasing of the six dump trucks as significant as they will “contribute towards the generation of hydropower and proper management of the water resources, which is being controlled and managed by the National Water Resources Authority (NWRA).”
Chimlambe said this today during the six-dump trucks delivery ceremony at Kamuzu Barrage at Liwonde.
He said the barrage is an important driver of the country’s economy as it controls the only raw resource, which produces almost 98% of our available power.
The dump trucks will be used in transporting away the weeds that have been removed from the Shire River at Kamuzu Barrage.
On his part, the Board Chairperson for NWRA Engineer James Mose Mambulu applauded the purchase of the tippers, calling them “significant in the removal of weeds from the Shire River.”
Kamuzu Barrage, which was first constructed in 1965 and upgraded in 2018 with funding from the World Bank, is now under the jurisdiction of the National Water Resources Authority as a regulator.
Dr Dwight Kambuku, Chief Executive Officer Dr. Kambuku disclosed that the authority is expected to take over management of the barrage by 2026. Currently, the Electricity Generation Company of Malawi (EGENCO) is the one that is carrying out weed management duties at the barrage.
EGENCO has been managing the Kamuzu Barrage on behalf of the Ministry of Water and Sanitation.
Eng. Mambulu said that recently, there was a signing ceremony of “a memorandum of understanding between the National Water Resources Authority and EGENCO. Details within that MOU are that we wanted to manage the transition so that, in 2026, NWRA will take over authority.”
The purchase of six dump trucks has been done with funding from the World Bank through the Malawi Watershed Services Improvement Project (MWASIP).
The project is being implemented under the leadership of the Ministry of Water while targeting the upper and middle Shire seven districts of Mangochi, Machinga, Balaka, Ntcheu, Zomba, Neno, and Blantyre.