Dowa district to have one Tollgate at Nkhamanga
The Dowa District Council has approved the erection of a Tollgate at Nkhamanga 7 Km from Mponela-Kasungu stretch by the Roads Fund Administration [RFA] contractors campsite near Mtiti bridge with a call to fulfill social cooperate responsibilities.
Members of the council advised both Roads Fund Administration [RFA] and Roads Authority [RA] to fully embrace decentralization by among other things, engage the council in earnest and honest that the council should be consulted even during design stage of some of the roads and road related projects.
The members noted with a great concern that if the council had a say with regards to the current M1 road rehabilitation project, they could have demanded that Dowa gets solar street lights along the stretches of major trading centres like Dowa Turn-off, Chimwaza/Nambuma Turn-off, Mponela, and Madisi among others.
Speaking during an Extraordinary full council meeting held at the boma, outgoing District Commissioner for Dowa Alex Mdooko, said it is worth noting that the roads in the district do not even have pullovers where long distance travellers can stop and refresh including using restrooms.
….’’It is a pity that the absence of such type of infrastructures make travellers use unhygienic ways of helping themselves during the call of nature like helping themselves behind bushes,’’….he said.
The council members whilst nodding to the construction of the Tollgate, noted that in the immediate past, it got a raw a raw deal [duped] during the construction of the Dowa Turn-Off-Chezi road, promises made to rehabilitate the Dowa boma loop roads were not fulfilled.
The members lamented that despite the council offering some offices to the contractor, Roads Fund Administration [RFA] and their Consultant, Roads Authority [RA] officials ended up grabbing all the office furniture that was purely bought for these offices.
They claimed that in a James Bond Style, they took everything away to Lilongwe on a Weekend despite an assurance made to the council that the furniture was to remain after undertaking an inventory and awaiting official handover.
Briefing the council members on the erection of a Tollgate at Nkhamanga in the district, Roads Fund Administration’s [RFA] Public Relations Manager Masauko Mngwaluko, assured the council that the RFA will compensate with money all the families affected by this Tollgate in line with government protocols of compensating people.
Mngwaluko advised people who will be receiving the compensations to use the money wisely so that in the end they don’t regret but be an encouragement to others that compensations have changed their lives and that it will live in their memories.
He said apart from Chingeni and Kalinyeke Tollgates in Ntcheu and Dedza respectively, the RFA has plans to erect five tollgates on the roads of Malawi with others to be at Naluva in Salima and Mkonkha after Namitete River on the Lilongwe-Mchinji road.
…..’’I appeal to you members of the council to sensitize people to take care of the road and tollgate so that there should be no stage of potholes,’’….he said.
In his remarks, the council’s Director of Administration Thomas Mwafongo, said the council will charge the RFA for its business premise at Nkhamanga saying this will be an advantage to the council to increase its revenue resources.
Mwafongo said the contractor of the tollgate will this time be forced to sign a Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] with the council for a follow-up of the cooperate social responsibilities as this will change the face of the district.
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