Govt to source extra funds for M1 Road rehabilitation

.……..Devaluation bites

The government of Malawi has admitted that it will need to source extra fund for the rehabilitation of the M1 Road despite getting K191 billion from European Investment Bank.

Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Sosten Gwengwe made the remarks during the signing ceremony of a K41 billion grant agreement with the European Investment Bank where he revealed that the bank also gave Malawi a loan of K95.5 billion for the project.

Gwengwe said the fund is not enough and government will need to source for extra fund to fill the gap as factors like devaluation and rising cost of materials were not considered during the agreement.

The European Investment Bank has already pumped in K139 billion in support of the K191 billion project and K4.5 billion of the EU grant funding is earmarked for the technical assistance to support the road construction and monitoring once construction is complete.

The project will be implemented by the Roads Authority under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport and Construction work is expected to be done by July 2024.