By Emmanuel Moyo
Legislator for Karonga Central Constituency, Leonard Mwalwanda has warned Karonga District Council against implementing substandard projects in the area.
The warning comes at a time when the council is about to construct Umoyo senior staff house for Mwenelondo Health Centre in the area.
In an interview, Mwalwanda described a staff house as very essential hence the need for standard quality.
“A staff house is very important because it will increase the number of staff at the health centre, so some contractors do substandard work thinking community members do not know the quality needed, but this time we will not allow substandard work.
“We want to get the right quality of a house and building materials which deserve the value of money which is being put into this project.” Mwalwanda said.
He has since emphasised that the community members will inspect the quality of the project throughout the construction process.
“We will frequently visit the site to see the progress of the house and the materials being used if at all they meet the standards, if they are not, we will make a query.” Mwalwanda said.
On his part, Karonga District Commissioner, Paul Kalilombe assured the community members that the council aims at constructing a good standard house.
“To assure that the house is of high standard, we have increased transparency and we are also following guidelines presented to us by the ministry of health, so all the requirements and designs were approved by the ministry.
“So with close supervision, we should be able to have best standard of Umoyo house which is a modern senior staff house that suits the money put in place and high standard is what we want to achieve as we involve all elected members in the supervision.”
He has since encouraged the general public to report on what is happening during the construction to the councillors, council or even National Construction Industry, and the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Karonga District Council is to construct one self-contained senior staff house worth 21, 947, 350.50 Malawi Kwacha with funds from District Development Fund (DDF) and the contractor is Horizon Building and Civil Engineering Contractors.
Mwenelondo Health Centre serves about 10, 000 people and currently there is only one staff house.
