China to finance Malawi sports and leisure development

The government of the People's Republic of China is to finance the construction of a sports complex, an international conference centre, a university complex and a five-star hotel in Malawi.

China's Deputy Minister of Commerce, Gao Hucheng, says the Chinese government will finance these projects in addition ongoing projects that were being backrolled by the Taiwanese government before Malawi severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favour of the mainland in December last year.

This took place after the Asian economic giant had reportedly dangled $6-billion in development aid for the impoverished Southern African country.

Consequently, the Taiwanese government abandoned all the projects it had been financing in Malawi, including the construction of the $45-million Karonga–Chitipa road, in the northern region of the country, and the construction of a Parliamentary complex in the capital, Lilongwe.

"The government of the People's Republic of China is ready to finance the projects that were abandoned by the Taiwanese in addition to the new projects," says Hucheng, who recently led a 46-member Chinese delegation to Malawi. Its main objective was to explore for investment opportunities in the African country.

Hucheng says China is currently seeking a contractor for the Karonga–Chitipa road project, which a Taiwanese contractor abandoned in its preliminary phase.

The government of China announced earlier this year that it would hire a contractor from within the Southern African Development Community region to build the Karonga–Chitipa road project because it would take a long time for a Chinese contractor to mobilise and ship equipment to Malawi.

Engineers from China have already inspected the project and concluded that it would be completed in two years; the Taiwanese who had planned to implement the project in four years.

"We are aware of the importance of completing this important road project, and we are working to ensure that work resumes as soon as possible," says Hucheng.

With regard to the Parliamentary complex, Hucheng says Chinese designers are inspecting the structure abandoned by the Taiwanese and that the process to identify a new contractor is at an advanced stage.

Currently, Malawi's Parliamentary secretariat is housed in a rented building, while Parliamentary sessions are held at the New State House, in Lilongwe, which is the official residence of President Bingu wa Mutharika.

China has pledged to finance all projects abandoned by the Taiwanese and other new projects, including components of the $6-billion Shire-Zambezi waterway.