Chinese contractor says too many public holidays in Malawi delaying projects completion
Chint Electric Company says Malawi has too many public holidays that are affecting timely completion of construction work of new electricity sub-stations under the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
Construction Manager for Chint Electric Company, Lyu Guozhu, expressed concern Tuesday during a media tour organised by Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) to new Bwengu and Luwinga sub-stations.
“Malawi has got a lot of public holidays, so we cannot force our workers here to work during public holidays; then we will be against the labour laws of the country,” Guozhu said.
According to the 2017 calendar, Malawi has had eight public holidays from January to June this year.
Guozhu added that constant rainfall is another challenge that has caused delays of construction work.
“This part of the country too [Northern region] has been receiving a lot of rains for the past five months which has also been our challenge,” he said.
However, Guozhu said he was optimistic that the construction of new sub-stations of Bwengu, Luwinga, Chintheche and Bunda in Lilongwe under the US$350 million compact project shall be completed as planned.
“I can assure you, we are going to meet the target despite these challenges. If they will be some delays then we can only add two months,” he said.
Guozhu said so far 70 percent of the construction work of these sub stations across the country has already been done.
Chint Electric Company is supposed to finish constructing all the four sub-stations in the country by December this year. Construction works on the four sites are running concurrently.
On her part, MCA’s Communications and Outreach Director, Zilani Khonje, said despite some challenges, MCA is satisfied with the progress of the whole project.
“We are optimistic and confident that come September 2018 we shall have finished almost the whole projects,” she said.
MCA is a government trust that is managing an electricity grant of US$350.7 million aimed at supporting Malawi`s energy sector. The grant is being used to construct Phombeya, Nkhoma and Sonda sub stations and is also upgrading Bwengu, Chintcheche, Luwinga and Bunda sub stations. The project will also replace existing transmission lines to increase transmission capacity from 66Kv to 132 Kilovolts.
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ngati ntchito yakukanikani mungonenena achitsiru inu!!!!!!!
The author of this article should’ve mentioned the holidays in China and global average for comparison. Osati just copying and pasting what they heard; that’s not journalism.
In China more than 28 public holidays in a year….
this chinese contractor is complaining five holidays in six months while in his country they go for two to three weeks in February alone each year. I thought all holidays are budgeted for or else you ask workers to work during holidays as along as you pay them over time may be he is asking us to change the laws to suit his programmes..