Chief Executive Officer for the Northern Region Water Board, Francis Munthali has said government has set aside K4 billion for the completion of the Karonga Town Water Project.
Munthali was speaking Sunday in Karonga at the end of a two day NRWB Interzone Games where he said the project will resume in the next two weeks.
“This project reached substantial completion sometime last year, but we ran out of funding along the way, and we were waiting for the new budget. I am pleased to report that the government has provided us K4 billion in the 2025-26 budget for us to complete the project.
“What is remaining on this project is to start connecting customers in areas like Pusi, Nyungwe and Mpata. With this amount of funding, the contractor will put in place mechanisms to ensure that people have been connected and we anticipate that around 15, 000 people will be connected,” said Munthali.
The CEO also announced plans to construct a Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipe manufacturing factory in Mzimba.
“We presented a proposal to the OPEC Fund, a developmental bank in Europe, for us to improve water supply and we have proposed that we install a PVC plant. Our job is to connect water for customers and as we speak, we have a huge backlog of customers who applied for connections,” he said.
According to Munthali one of the key challenges they face is sourcing materials for connections which the PVC plant will address.
Austin Kafere, a resident of Karonga town, hailed NRWB for the project, saying lack of access to clean water affects vulnerable populations, such as women, children, and the elderly.
“This project will help ensure people not only at Karonga Town but even in rural areas access potable water which is crucial for achieving health, economic, and social development goals,” said Kafere.
