Lilongwe residents rubbish shoddy road project by Plem Construction: City Council under fire
Lilongwe City Council together with residents of Kawale and Chilinde townships are angry at Plem Construction company for what they call shoddy work on a 5-kilometre road stretch from Chilinde to NAPHAM offices in Kawale.
Plem upgraded the road in 2016 after winning a multi-million tender from the city council. As a client, the council emphasized during commencement on the need for city roads to be of good standard.
However, it is now evident that the construction company did a bad job on this road rendering it to potholes just in under 24 months.
“This is pure sub-standard work by Plem. They just used a small fraction of the money given to maximise profits and here we are struggling as if it is an earth road again,” lamented one Kawale resident Paul Kwenda, who uses the road on daily basis running business errands.
The shoddy work on this road is a painful reminder for Lilongwe City Council and residents because in 2017 Plem was also found in the wrong when they constructed another substandard road in Area 24.
Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development queried the council on the construction of roads in the city which have been rated as not up to the standard.
At that time the company was forced to rush back to the site and rectify the many problems but to no avail. Today the Area 24 Road is again damaged on many patches, making life difficult for car owners and commuters in the area.
Meanwhile, the city authorities say they will reconsider their future working partnership with Plem due to incidents of poor workmanship.
“It is highly unlikely that Lilongwe City Council will give any more projects to Plem. They have failed to prove their competence over the past years. We can not risk our funds on companies that are not ready to deliver,” a reliable source at the council said in a telephone interview.
Also in 2016, Plem was also courted in controversy for constructing a sub-standard road in Mzuzu City. The road developed potholes within two months after handover to the city authorities.
Plem Construction Ltd is equivalent to Fargo Ltd in so far as road construction standards are concerned. Kamuzu never allowed local governments to pay for such poor quality work. At most the constructor was told to rework the road project if he wanted to be paid. This is what happened to a German contractor that worked on part of Chiweta – Karonga Lake Shore road. In Israel, few years ago, the government there filed a law civil suit against a contractor who had constructed a road using poor quality materials. The road developed cracks and pot holes soon after road… Read more »
Ku Blantyre City kuli mwazangati akulemela daily ndi bwana wake CEO Chanza.Amwenye pafupifupi hour iliyonse mmozi akutuluka mu office zawo.
Amwenye a Plem amatha kudisha! Muwona awapatsa ntchito ina. Shithole country!
City Council, as a requirement you are supposed to inspect during and after construction to ensure quality is adhered to,,, was that DONE????
Where is the leadership? These companies are supposed to be answerable to the state
ENGINEER MUTHALIKA inspected during contraction and he was impressed. Who the f*ck are you to say it’s shoddy work. Don’t anger me. Wakukwanani yamikani… Asaaa MAVOTAVOTA
kikikiki dpp. dausi wadyapo apa ndi henry musa
PLEM is a bad player but the city council is the worst of the two. The Council is supposed to have an independent overseer of the project to see to it that Plem has constructed the road according according to agreed standards. But corruption is the root of all this.
Bwerani Mudzaone Nkolokosa road & Soche East ku BT kuno. Hardly 2 months of ceiling Pot holes……..now there pot holes within pot holes!!!!! kkkkkkkkk
Shame I was about to say the same. Ndipo kaya they used soil just to cover the pot holes! But am sure millions were paid for such poor work! My God this country!
Shameful Is this a road in a city? Let alone a capital city. Do our officials visit other countries and see what construction works take place in those countries? I am talking of not far away from us. In the S A D C region. Pa Zambia pompa apa. People in Malawi have become so self centered and corrupt and care less, about the good of our country.