The financially struggling Air Malawi has struck a deal with South Africa's City of Johannesburg to allow interested Malawians to benefit from the 2009 Jo'burg Shopping Festival scheduled for 1 - 30 September 2009.
“The partnership is a good marketing tool for Air Malawi besides hugely benefiting customers,” said acting commercial director for the airliner, Temwachi Changwa.
She said since countries participating would be allowed to exhibit their traditions and cultures at selected malls by, Malawi could sell itself as a tourism destination.
Air Malawi has reduced fares for those going for the festival at around K57,700 tax inclusive from around K70,000 return ticket.
A representative of Johannesburg, Monique Griffith, said the festival has been set to coincide with the tourism and heritage months of South Africa.
“We have already arranged with shuttle companies for special rates for those visiting the city for the festival because we want to make it easy for visitors when travelling between the shopping malls and their hotels,” she said.
The festival which has taken after the highly publicised Dubai Shopping Festival will allow people to buy reduced goods in selected shops.
Friday, 17 July 2009
Malawi trip is a real education for Arlene
AN IRVINE student swapped her Kilwinning classroom for one in Malawi as part of an ambitious project.
Arlene Hamilton joined 11 other students and four staff of Kilwinning’s James Watt College on the trip to visit two schools in Malawi.
Assistant principal, Alistair Shaw, organised the trip as part of the college’s centenary events.
He said: “The trip to Malawi was an incredible opportunity for James Watt College to strengthen our links with colleges there and contribute to Malawian society.
“As this has been our centenary year we have spent a lot of time reflecting on the heritage of the college and its rich history.
“We decided the trip to Malawi was appropriate this year as it marks a new era for the college, one in which we will continue to build international links and carry on the philanthropic work that Scots have been known for historically.”
To raise the money for the trip, students held bingo nights, charity events and some even walked the West Highland Way.
Speaking about her experience, Arlene said: “I would have loved to stay longer but the short time that we were there gave me a great insight into the country.
“We visited two colleges – Don Bosco in Lilongwe and Salima College. The two were so different and I think Salima College really did need a lot more help.
“It’s in a beautiful area, right on Lake Malawi and could be an absolute paradise and attract lots of international students, but the facilities aren’t there just now.
“Working with the Malawian students was a fantastic experience as their way of life is all they’ve ever known and they can’t even imagine the things that we have in this country and how we live our lives.
“They were so grateful for everything and so friendly, there’s a great sense of community and generosity, despite the fact that they have so little.
“I am already looking into going back to Malawi to follow up on some of the projects – Salima College are looking into refurbishing their dormitories.
“We’ve estimated that it would cost around £70 per room to do this and it’s definitely something I would try and raise funds for.”
Arlene Hamilton joined 11 other students and four staff of Kilwinning’s James Watt College on the trip to visit two schools in Malawi.
Assistant principal, Alistair Shaw, organised the trip as part of the college’s centenary events.
He said: “The trip to Malawi was an incredible opportunity for James Watt College to strengthen our links with colleges there and contribute to Malawian society.
“As this has been our centenary year we have spent a lot of time reflecting on the heritage of the college and its rich history.
“We decided the trip to Malawi was appropriate this year as it marks a new era for the college, one in which we will continue to build international links and carry on the philanthropic work that Scots have been known for historically.”
To raise the money for the trip, students held bingo nights, charity events and some even walked the West Highland Way.
Speaking about her experience, Arlene said: “I would have loved to stay longer but the short time that we were there gave me a great insight into the country.
“We visited two colleges – Don Bosco in Lilongwe and Salima College. The two were so different and I think Salima College really did need a lot more help.
“It’s in a beautiful area, right on Lake Malawi and could be an absolute paradise and attract lots of international students, but the facilities aren’t there just now.
“Working with the Malawian students was a fantastic experience as their way of life is all they’ve ever known and they can’t even imagine the things that we have in this country and how we live our lives.
“They were so grateful for everything and so friendly, there’s a great sense of community and generosity, despite the fact that they have so little.
“I am already looking into going back to Malawi to follow up on some of the projects – Salima College are looking into refurbishing their dormitories.
“We’ve estimated that it would cost around £70 per room to do this and it’s definitely something I would try and raise funds for.”
Top comics prime the pump for Malawi water charity
A NEW Scottish charity was stunned when two of Britain's top Asian comics agreed to appear at a one-off show.
Have I Got News for You panellist Shazia Mirza and Jeff Mirza, of The Kumars at No. 42 and Bend It Like Beckham fame, will appear at Hamilton Town Hall next Tuesday.
All proceeds from the show will go to the Well Foundation, a charity that provides clean drinking water to some the poorest people on the planet.
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The comedy show will be followed by an auction to benefit the foundation's Malawi project.
The project is trying to raise £20,000 to build much needed wells in the African country and has already raised over £6000.
The Well Foundation was set up by a group of friends after they became aware of the lack of clean drinking water in Malawi.
Sohail Ashraf, from Glasgow, said: "We decided we had to help, so last year we began to organise ourselves starting the Well Foundation charity."
The ten friends set themselves a target of raising £20,000 to build wells, install hand pumps and educate people on health and sanitation.
"We are really focused and driven," said Sohail, "We are determined to make a real difference to people in Malawi's lives."
The group decided to organise the comedy night to raise smiles - as well as cash.
Sohail said: "I had seen Jeff before and thought he was excellent so was desperate to get him on board. We told him what we were trying to do and he agreed to perform.
"We then thought about Shazia but never in our wildest dreams did we think that she would say yes. We thought she'd tell us to get lost."
Along with the comedians there will also be an auction with lots including a Barcelona top, signed by the whole team, and boxing gloves signed by Muhammad Ali.
"With prizes like this, we are hopeful that we will raise £10,000 be well on our way to smashing our project target."
Have I Got News for You panellist Shazia Mirza and Jeff Mirza, of The Kumars at No. 42 and Bend It Like Beckham fame, will appear at Hamilton Town Hall next Tuesday.
All proceeds from the show will go to the Well Foundation, a charity that provides clean drinking water to some the poorest people on the planet.
advertisement
The comedy show will be followed by an auction to benefit the foundation's Malawi project.
The project is trying to raise £20,000 to build much needed wells in the African country and has already raised over £6000.
The Well Foundation was set up by a group of friends after they became aware of the lack of clean drinking water in Malawi.
Sohail Ashraf, from Glasgow, said: "We decided we had to help, so last year we began to organise ourselves starting the Well Foundation charity."
The ten friends set themselves a target of raising £20,000 to build wells, install hand pumps and educate people on health and sanitation.
"We are really focused and driven," said Sohail, "We are determined to make a real difference to people in Malawi's lives."
The group decided to organise the comedy night to raise smiles - as well as cash.
Sohail said: "I had seen Jeff before and thought he was excellent so was desperate to get him on board. We told him what we were trying to do and he agreed to perform.
"We then thought about Shazia but never in our wildest dreams did we think that she would say yes. We thought she'd tell us to get lost."
Along with the comedians there will also be an auction with lots including a Barcelona top, signed by the whole team, and boxing gloves signed by Muhammad Ali.
"With prizes like this, we are hopeful that we will raise £10,000 be well on our way to smashing our project target."
Malawi: Agriculture Subsidy Working in Malawi
Abuja — The farmers' success is not a coincidence: After facing a famine four years ago that threatened one-third of the country's 13 million people, around half of whom live in poverty, tiny Malawi has utilized a $60 million policy of state subsidies for agriculture to become a net grain exporter. Malawi has transformed itself from a ward of the international community into one of the most successful agricultural economies in southern Africa: The landlocked, geographically diverse country, covered in green rolling hills and dotted with freshwater lakes, now exports thousands of pounds of corn to neighboring, starving Zimbabwe, a nation once known as the breadbasket of the region.
State agriculture subsidies are hardly what the doctor - or, in this case, the international aid community and the World Food Program - ordered. But Malawi triumphed precisely by ignoring the world's leading pro-privatization agricultural experts. In fact, the "Malawi model" could turn out to be one of the only African success stories in recent years.
[...] Starting in 2004, it launched the nationwide Agricultural Inputs Subsidy Program, in which roughly half of Malawi's small farmers were given coupons to buy fertilizer and seed at a rate far below the market price. Critically, the government focused the program not on the most destitute, but on the poor farmers who at least had some land and the ability to work the plots, thus guaranteeing a return on their investment in the form of more efficient grain output. At the same time, the government invested in training programs, helping farmers learn about new types of irrigation and management to improve their yields. And once the farmers produced, the Malawian government created funds designed to buy a percentage of the maize crop and store it for future emergencies. In this way, the state hoped to ensure that it would never be caught in a famine having to rely upon private traders to supply staple crops.
And, the danger of getting overly obsessed with 'invisible hand' (liberalization and privatization) in vulnerable sectors, i.e. sectors whose performance would have a direct bearing on the very survival of poor people!
In many poor countries, when governments stopped handing out seeds and fertilizer, or providing warehouses to store farmers' grain, the meager private sector was not equipped to fill the void. Unlike in the developed world, home to giant agribusinesses, in Africa the small private grain sellers and buyers have little capital or ability to raise money. And with little financing, it is nearly impossible for the private sector to develop large stocks of seed and fertilizer, or to build large warehouses necessary to store significant quantities of staple foods. Forced to rely upon the private sector, farmers in turn could not buy large quantities of seed, or store grain between harvests; and even if the resources were available, farmers often could not afford to buy fertilizer and seed. In many nations that had liberalized agriculture, crops simply rotted.
With private traders unable to store crops, governments selling off their warehouses to the private sector, and no one investing in agricultural research, developing nations have been left dangerously short of any food reserves. Yet for years, donor nations ignored the downside to privatization, even as country after country suffered through famines made worse by a lack of food stockpiles'and as rich countries, in a great irony, subsidized their own farmers. As former President Bill Clinton told a United Nations conference on food security last year, referring to wealthy nations' push for agriculture privatization: "We all blew it."
A simulation of potential trade policy scenarios under the WTO showed that small country like Malawi would emerge as losers of agricultural trade liberalization. So, it does not make sense to argue for complete agriculture trade liberalization. Also, it does not make sense to blindly follow the market principles, though the best system if certain conditions are predetermined, and argue for full privatization, deregulation and liberalization of the agriculture market. Another relevant question here is: Would the developing countries lose or gain from agriculture trade liberalization (includes scrapping agriculture subsidies in the US, the EU, and Japan? Some say the developing countries would be worse off if agriculture subsidy in the West is eliminated. It really depends on if (households) a country is a net exporter or importer, its production and distribution cost structure, and demand of such goods in the global market, among other factors.
State agriculture subsidies are hardly what the doctor - or, in this case, the international aid community and the World Food Program - ordered. But Malawi triumphed precisely by ignoring the world's leading pro-privatization agricultural experts. In fact, the "Malawi model" could turn out to be one of the only African success stories in recent years.
[...] Starting in 2004, it launched the nationwide Agricultural Inputs Subsidy Program, in which roughly half of Malawi's small farmers were given coupons to buy fertilizer and seed at a rate far below the market price. Critically, the government focused the program not on the most destitute, but on the poor farmers who at least had some land and the ability to work the plots, thus guaranteeing a return on their investment in the form of more efficient grain output. At the same time, the government invested in training programs, helping farmers learn about new types of irrigation and management to improve their yields. And once the farmers produced, the Malawian government created funds designed to buy a percentage of the maize crop and store it for future emergencies. In this way, the state hoped to ensure that it would never be caught in a famine having to rely upon private traders to supply staple crops.
And, the danger of getting overly obsessed with 'invisible hand' (liberalization and privatization) in vulnerable sectors, i.e. sectors whose performance would have a direct bearing on the very survival of poor people!
In many poor countries, when governments stopped handing out seeds and fertilizer, or providing warehouses to store farmers' grain, the meager private sector was not equipped to fill the void. Unlike in the developed world, home to giant agribusinesses, in Africa the small private grain sellers and buyers have little capital or ability to raise money. And with little financing, it is nearly impossible for the private sector to develop large stocks of seed and fertilizer, or to build large warehouses necessary to store significant quantities of staple foods. Forced to rely upon the private sector, farmers in turn could not buy large quantities of seed, or store grain between harvests; and even if the resources were available, farmers often could not afford to buy fertilizer and seed. In many nations that had liberalized agriculture, crops simply rotted.
With private traders unable to store crops, governments selling off their warehouses to the private sector, and no one investing in agricultural research, developing nations have been left dangerously short of any food reserves. Yet for years, donor nations ignored the downside to privatization, even as country after country suffered through famines made worse by a lack of food stockpiles'and as rich countries, in a great irony, subsidized their own farmers. As former President Bill Clinton told a United Nations conference on food security last year, referring to wealthy nations' push for agriculture privatization: "We all blew it."
A simulation of potential trade policy scenarios under the WTO showed that small country like Malawi would emerge as losers of agricultural trade liberalization. So, it does not make sense to argue for complete agriculture trade liberalization. Also, it does not make sense to blindly follow the market principles, though the best system if certain conditions are predetermined, and argue for full privatization, deregulation and liberalization of the agriculture market. Another relevant question here is: Would the developing countries lose or gain from agriculture trade liberalization (includes scrapping agriculture subsidies in the US, the EU, and Japan? Some say the developing countries would be worse off if agriculture subsidy in the West is eliminated. It really depends on if (households) a country is a net exporter or importer, its production and distribution cost structure, and demand of such goods in the global market, among other factors.
Malawi inflation slows again in June
Malawi's headline inflation slowed to 8.4 percent year-on-year in June from 8.7 percent in May on a further easing in food inflation, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said on Friday.
Inflation in the southern African country has been on a downward trend since hitting a two-year peak of 10.1 percent year-on-year in January.
"National food inflation continued its downward trend registering a drop of 7.0 percent on the month before," the NSO said.
"Non food inflation has also maintained its downward trend ... at 9.9 percent from 10.1 percent for the last month."
Food inflation, heavily dictated by changes in the price of maize -- the staple food in Malawi -- accounts for about 58 percent in the country's consumer price index.
Inflation in the southern African country has been on a downward trend since hitting a two-year peak of 10.1 percent year-on-year in January.
"National food inflation continued its downward trend registering a drop of 7.0 percent on the month before," the NSO said.
"Non food inflation has also maintained its downward trend ... at 9.9 percent from 10.1 percent for the last month."
Food inflation, heavily dictated by changes in the price of maize -- the staple food in Malawi -- accounts for about 58 percent in the country's consumer price index.
Multichoice Malawi launches another bouquet
Multichoice Malawi has launched a new digital satellite television bouquet called DStv Access which its marketing manager Titania Katenga-Kaunda says was in response to the needs of the broader television viewing market.
“Our commitment remains focused on providing exceptional customer services to our subscribers,” she said.
In the new product, the subscription fee has been pegged at US$10 per month and Katenga-Kaunda says this demonstrates the company's commitment to create a vibrant and exciting pay television industry in Malawi and Africa as a whole.
With DStv Access package, subscribers will have a choice of family entertainment combined with general entertainment, movies, documentaries, news, music, religion and sport as it will include BBC World, Aljazeera, National Geographic Wild, Fashion Tv, Magic World and CNBC Africa.
“Our commitment remains focused on providing exceptional customer services to our subscribers,” she said.
In the new product, the subscription fee has been pegged at US$10 per month and Katenga-Kaunda says this demonstrates the company's commitment to create a vibrant and exciting pay television industry in Malawi and Africa as a whole.
With DStv Access package, subscribers will have a choice of family entertainment combined with general entertainment, movies, documentaries, news, music, religion and sport as it will include BBC World, Aljazeera, National Geographic Wild, Fashion Tv, Magic World and CNBC Africa.
Malawi Shows Obama’s Goal for African Self-Reliance Is Possible
President Barack Obama need look no further than Malawi to support his argument that with the right seeds, fertilizers and transport, Africa can feed itself.
Once the victim of intermittent famines that left 40 percent of the population dependent on international aid just four years ago, Malawi has become a food exporter. Farmers credit a government program of subsidizing fertilizers for the turnaround.
“The world faces massive food shortages, but we have a lesson we can offer to the world,” President Bingu wa Mutharika, who was re-elected in May, told reporters this week. “Our subsidy program is a success and we want other countries to learn from us.”
Other African countries may now get the funds to follow Malawi: The Group of Eight nations on July 10 approved $20 billion in aid over three years to help poor farmers worldwide, mostly through cheaper access to fertilizers and seed.
Neighboring Tanzania began a fertilizer-subsidy program last December. Kenya had already announced plans for a subsidy system to turn it into a net food exporter by 2012, while Uganda increased agricultural spending by 47 percent in the budget announced on June 11.
“There is no reason why Africa cannot be self-sufficient when it comes to food,” Obama, 47, told reporters on July 10 at the G-8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy. “It has sufficient arable land. What’s lacking is the right seeds, the right irrigation, but also the kinds of institutional mechanisms that ensure that a farmer is going to be able to grow crops, get them to market, get a fair price.”
“Before the subsidies came in during 2005, our crops were poor because we couldn’t afford fertilizer,” said Luckmore Banda, looking out over 5-foot-high corn stalks sprouting from every square inch of available land at his homestead outside Malawi’s commercial capital, Blantyre. “Now, things are on the up and up. Our production is rising and our income is rising.”
Banda, 62, says the subsidies helped lift his income to $5 a day from less than $1 four years ago. About 7.2 million small- scale farmers in a country of 14.3 million have received the subsidies over four years, Treasury Secretary Randson Mwadiwa said in an interview.
Malawi expects to produce an estimated 3.7 million metric tons of corn this year, up 36 percent from 2008 and exceeding the 2.4 million tons needed for self-sufficiency, Finance Minister Ken Kandodo Banda said in a July 3 interview.
Corn Output Rising
Over the last five years, Malawi has increased its corn production by 57 percent, more than any of the other nine countries in Southern Africa, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report published yesterday.
While Malawi will replenish its grain stores this year, the United Nations has warned that the number of people suffering chronic hunger worldwide will rise by 100 million to 1.02 billion, 15 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion population, this year.
In 2005, prior to the program, a combination of drought and depleted soils made 5 million people in Malawi dependent on food handouts, according to the government and the UN Development Program. None is now.
While the World Bank says Malawi’s crop estimates may be too high and that good rains accounted for much of the increase, Agriculture Secretary Andrew Daudi said in an interview that “the surplus of corn production can be attributed entirely to the subsidy program.”
Expanding Economy
Malawi’s economy has expanded an average of 6.6 percent a year since 2004, while the percentage of people living on less than $1 a day has fallen to 40 percent from 52 percent, the Ministry of Finance said on May 15. Per capita income rose to $237 per year from $175 over the same period.
The subsidies work through vouchers that farmers can redeem for a 50-kilogram (110-pound) bag of fertilizer, covering about 70 percent of the cost.
“An application of even a few kilos of fertilizer doubles the output,” said Ajay Vashee. He is president of the Paris- based International Federation of Agricultural Producers and a farmer in Zambia. Malawi’s experience “can be replicated provided there are certain safeguards,” Vashee said. “We need to know the true cost of the program.”
The subsidies soaked up about 15 percent of Malawi’s national budget and accounted for about 80 percent of spending by the Agriculture Ministry, according to David Rohrbach, the World Bank’s representative in Malawi.
Budget Impact
The government will spend 17.8 billion kwacha ($127 million) on the program this year, down 39 percent from 2008 due to an expected equivalent drop in fertilizer costs, Minister Banda said on July 3.
In addition to using up funds, the subsidies may not be producing the harvest estimated by the government. Encouraged by a bumper harvest in 2007, the government granted licenses for exports of 450,000 tons, yet exporters could only access 283,000 tons, according to a report by the Pretoria, South Africa-based Regional Strategic Agricultural Knowledge Support System for Southern Africa, which promotes agricultural development.
Whatever the reservations about the system, Malawi’s poor have clearly benefited.
“I watched many, many people die of hunger, especially in 2005,” said Jonas Chifumbo, another Blantyre farmer. “It was a horrifying experience, there was just death everywhere. Now the very poor are getting help.”
Once the victim of intermittent famines that left 40 percent of the population dependent on international aid just four years ago, Malawi has become a food exporter. Farmers credit a government program of subsidizing fertilizers for the turnaround.
“The world faces massive food shortages, but we have a lesson we can offer to the world,” President Bingu wa Mutharika, who was re-elected in May, told reporters this week. “Our subsidy program is a success and we want other countries to learn from us.”
Other African countries may now get the funds to follow Malawi: The Group of Eight nations on July 10 approved $20 billion in aid over three years to help poor farmers worldwide, mostly through cheaper access to fertilizers and seed.
Neighboring Tanzania began a fertilizer-subsidy program last December. Kenya had already announced plans for a subsidy system to turn it into a net food exporter by 2012, while Uganda increased agricultural spending by 47 percent in the budget announced on June 11.
“There is no reason why Africa cannot be self-sufficient when it comes to food,” Obama, 47, told reporters on July 10 at the G-8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy. “It has sufficient arable land. What’s lacking is the right seeds, the right irrigation, but also the kinds of institutional mechanisms that ensure that a farmer is going to be able to grow crops, get them to market, get a fair price.”
“Before the subsidies came in during 2005, our crops were poor because we couldn’t afford fertilizer,” said Luckmore Banda, looking out over 5-foot-high corn stalks sprouting from every square inch of available land at his homestead outside Malawi’s commercial capital, Blantyre. “Now, things are on the up and up. Our production is rising and our income is rising.”
Banda, 62, says the subsidies helped lift his income to $5 a day from less than $1 four years ago. About 7.2 million small- scale farmers in a country of 14.3 million have received the subsidies over four years, Treasury Secretary Randson Mwadiwa said in an interview.
Malawi expects to produce an estimated 3.7 million metric tons of corn this year, up 36 percent from 2008 and exceeding the 2.4 million tons needed for self-sufficiency, Finance Minister Ken Kandodo Banda said in a July 3 interview.
Corn Output Rising
Over the last five years, Malawi has increased its corn production by 57 percent, more than any of the other nine countries in Southern Africa, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report published yesterday.
While Malawi will replenish its grain stores this year, the United Nations has warned that the number of people suffering chronic hunger worldwide will rise by 100 million to 1.02 billion, 15 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion population, this year.
In 2005, prior to the program, a combination of drought and depleted soils made 5 million people in Malawi dependent on food handouts, according to the government and the UN Development Program. None is now.
While the World Bank says Malawi’s crop estimates may be too high and that good rains accounted for much of the increase, Agriculture Secretary Andrew Daudi said in an interview that “the surplus of corn production can be attributed entirely to the subsidy program.”
Expanding Economy
Malawi’s economy has expanded an average of 6.6 percent a year since 2004, while the percentage of people living on less than $1 a day has fallen to 40 percent from 52 percent, the Ministry of Finance said on May 15. Per capita income rose to $237 per year from $175 over the same period.
The subsidies work through vouchers that farmers can redeem for a 50-kilogram (110-pound) bag of fertilizer, covering about 70 percent of the cost.
“An application of even a few kilos of fertilizer doubles the output,” said Ajay Vashee. He is president of the Paris- based International Federation of Agricultural Producers and a farmer in Zambia. Malawi’s experience “can be replicated provided there are certain safeguards,” Vashee said. “We need to know the true cost of the program.”
The subsidies soaked up about 15 percent of Malawi’s national budget and accounted for about 80 percent of spending by the Agriculture Ministry, according to David Rohrbach, the World Bank’s representative in Malawi.
Budget Impact
The government will spend 17.8 billion kwacha ($127 million) on the program this year, down 39 percent from 2008 due to an expected equivalent drop in fertilizer costs, Minister Banda said on July 3.
In addition to using up funds, the subsidies may not be producing the harvest estimated by the government. Encouraged by a bumper harvest in 2007, the government granted licenses for exports of 450,000 tons, yet exporters could only access 283,000 tons, according to a report by the Pretoria, South Africa-based Regional Strategic Agricultural Knowledge Support System for Southern Africa, which promotes agricultural development.
Whatever the reservations about the system, Malawi’s poor have clearly benefited.
“I watched many, many people die of hunger, especially in 2005,” said Jonas Chifumbo, another Blantyre farmer. “It was a horrifying experience, there was just death everywhere. Now the very poor are getting help.”
Chinese bank backs Malawi hotel, conference centre project
The Malawi government has secured a $90-million loan from Export & Import Bank, of the People’s Republic of China, for the construction of a five-star hotel and an international conference centre in the capital city, Lilongwe.
Finance Minister Ken Kandodo has already presented the loan Bill to the country’s Parliament, which has approved it.
“The loan will be repaid in 15 years, after a five-year grace period,” says Kandodo.
He says that construction of the hotel and the conference centre will start this year.
The director of buildings at the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Hastings Chiudzu, reports that Chinese firm Shanghai Construction has already produced designs for the conference centre and the five-star hotel, and that these have been approved by the authorities.
The hotel and international conference centre project is among the projects that China pledged to finance after Malawi announced in December 2007 that it was ending 42 years of diplomatic ties with Taiwan, China’s political rival.
The other major project that the Chinese have pledged to finance is the construction of a national stadium, which is estimated to cost between $40-million and $60-million.
Chiudzu says the architectural compo-nent of the 40 000- to 60 000-seater stadium has been completed but that the Malawi government and the Chinese government are finalising the financial arrangements for the project.
Apart from pledging to finance these new projects, China also took over the financing of all the projects that were being financed by the Taiwanese, including the construction of a Parliamentary complex in Lilongwe and the construction of the $70-million Karonga–Chitipa road.
Finance Minister Ken Kandodo has already presented the loan Bill to the country’s Parliament, which has approved it.
“The loan will be repaid in 15 years, after a five-year grace period,” says Kandodo.
He says that construction of the hotel and the conference centre will start this year.
The director of buildings at the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Hastings Chiudzu, reports that Chinese firm Shanghai Construction has already produced designs for the conference centre and the five-star hotel, and that these have been approved by the authorities.
The hotel and international conference centre project is among the projects that China pledged to finance after Malawi announced in December 2007 that it was ending 42 years of diplomatic ties with Taiwan, China’s political rival.
The other major project that the Chinese have pledged to finance is the construction of a national stadium, which is estimated to cost between $40-million and $60-million.
Chiudzu says the architectural compo-nent of the 40 000- to 60 000-seater stadium has been completed but that the Malawi government and the Chinese government are finalising the financial arrangements for the project.
Apart from pledging to finance these new projects, China also took over the financing of all the projects that were being financed by the Taiwanese, including the construction of a Parliamentary complex in Lilongwe and the construction of the $70-million Karonga–Chitipa road.
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