New Malawi sugar factory starts production in Salima

President Prof. Peter Mutharika on Monday officially commissioned sugar production at the newly established Sugar Company in Salima.

The state-of-the-art factory which is situated at Chikwawa Greenbelt Site in the area of T/A Khombedza has become the second sugar company in Malawi after Illovo Sugar which has factories in Chikhwawa and Nkhotakota districts.

Speaking to a mammoth crowd which came to witness the occasion, President Mutharika said the opening of the factory was a clear testimony that his government is working hard to turn the country into a producing and exporting economy.

“Our vision is to make our economy strong through investment in industries that will produce goods for export. Apart from bringing foreign exchange these factories will create jobs for our people and lead to the growth of towns in rural areas,” said Mutharika.

He said that his government has saved the Sugar factory from dying a natural death after the money allocated to the development of the irrigation land for sugar cane to feed the factory was allegedly stolen during the previous government.

Mutharika said that Sugar Company will create 3,000 jobs and bring social services like a hospital and a technical college in the area.

President Mutharika also said his other agenda was to address the power problems and water problem faced in all the major cities of the country.

On this point he said that he will act on the issue as the current president but said he was not responsible for the problems.

“The problems we have in these two sectors were not caused by my government but rather the previous governments which did not invest in the energy and water sector,” said the President.

He said that to address the issues his government was undertaking a number of projects including taking water from Mulanje Mountain under Blantyre water board and sinking boreholes in Lilongwe to support the water supply system.

“Meanwhile we are working to start a project to take water from Lake Malawi through Salima and Mvera to Lilongwe. Once all these projects are completed these problems will be over,” said the President.

He then said that the new water project will be followed by the restructuring of the Water Board authorities to ensure efficiency.

On energy the President disclosed that he will soon commission works on the 300 Mega Wat Kamwamba Coal fired electricity generating plant.

Added Mutharika: “We are also determined to bring development to rural areas; we do not want the rural areas to remain behind. We will open more rural growth centres in selected areas in all the three regions.”

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