Malawi, Tanzania agree to develop Songwe River basin into economic hub
Malawi government and the United Republic of Tanzania have agreed to jointly use the Songwe river in developing electricity power plants, irrigation schemes and together combat climate change.
This follows fruitful discussions the two countries held on the Songwe River Basin Development Program (SRBDP) at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe.
Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Goodall Gondwe while officially opening the Donors’ Conference on the Songwe River Basin Development Program (SRBDP) Thursday said Malawi government was certainly going to get some money from the African Development Bank (AfDB) as well as the private investors who he believed were ready to take part particularly in the irrigation component.
“This is a helpful programme for Malawi however, we will monitor its progress closely and invest desirably,” said Gondwe.
Tanzania’s Leader of Delegation, Minister of Water and Irrigation, Eng. Gerson Hosea Lwenge said the organized donors’ conference helped in harnessing the development of the Songwe River Basin.
Lwenge said every year people along the basin have been experiencing flash foods with more than 100,000 being displaced.
He then said investing in the region through the SRBDP raises chances of addressing the flooding problem.
“First of all, we will have to construct a dam which will be a multipurpose dam. We hope that from this dam we will be producing hydro-power and developing irrigation schemes.
“We have so many things in common and this programme is going to benefit people from both countries,” said Lwenge.
The project is expected to cost over US$829 million (about MK580 Billion) and it will be shared equally.
African Development Bank (AfDB) Resident Representative, Dr Andrew Mwaba said the Bank is committed to financing the SRBDP.
“What I can say is that as a Bank we are ready to provide financial resources for the commencement of the project,” he said.
The SRBDP has three phases; the first one being the feasibility study, followed by detailed designing while thirdly will be the actual construction of the dam. The two phases were already carried out an indication of good progress.
Meanwhile, AfDB has pledged US$72million to kick start the third phase of the project.
During the donors’ conference the two governments singed the Memorandum of Understanding for the Phase three of the SRBDP and the convention to establish the Songwe River Basin Commission (SRBC).
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It is encouraging to note that Malawi and Tanzania and finally speaking about development. The two countries have a lot to benefit from each other. In fact, development-minded people in both countries would surely love to hear about what their leaders are doing to grow their economies than wasting their precious time on the unproductive Lake Malawi/Nyasa dispute. Malawi needs Tanzania and Tanzania needs Malawi. Apart from being neighbours, people from two countries share a lot in common. You will need to be a genius to differentiate a Ngonde from Karonga and a Sukwa or a Ndali from Chitipa from… Read more »
Bravo Malawi and Tanzania for the agreement to use Songwe -basin to the economic advantages of the both sister countries.Forget the fight over lake Nyasa/lake Malawi , because the LAKE belongs to both countries and Africa.There are two big lakes in East Africa(Tanzania,Uganda and Kenya) and these lakes are believed to have a great amount of oil,but the people and leaders of these three countries,have declined to destroy the lakes in search of dirty oil that would only benefit the ruling clique.For your information,there are thousands of Malawians fishing in Lake Tanganyika without legal documents and the Tanzanian authority,knows about… Read more »