Malawi to revamp railway transport, says Minister Jappie

Minister of Transport and Public Works, Jappie Mhango has said government is working towards reviving railway transport in a bid to reduce the cost of goods that is resulting from over dependence on the expensive road transport.

He said this in Salima on Friday when he inspected the railway overhauling project for the Nacala to Mchinji railway line by the Central East Africa Railway (CEAR).

“I am pleased with the work which the contractor Mota-Engil is doing. It is a super job and it is on track to be completed by the end of this year,” Mhango noted.

The Minister said the overhauling of the railway is part of projects which government, under the Transport Sector Master Plan, wants to undertake as way of revitalising rail transportation.

“As government we want to move from over dependence on road transport for goods, which is rather expensive, to using rail way transport. In this regard we want to build a rail line connecting Chilumba to Mbeya in Tanzania and Nsanje to Beira in Mozambique so that our fuel imports should be transported by rail,” Mhango explained.

The Minister said that once the interconnection is completed prices of goods like fuel would decrease due to reduced costs of transporting.

He asked people to stop vandalising national infrastructure including railway lines observingthat it is retrogressive to development.

Director for CEAR, Gustavo Stein disclosed that his company has pumped K5.2 billion intothe project.

“This is a big project and we are hoping that it will give us good results in terms of increased volume of goods passing through the corridor and speed due to improved tracks,” he remarked.