Parliament has authorised government to borrow $20 million to finance the rehabilitation of the Benga – Nkhotakota – Dwangwa road.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday, Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe said the rehabilitation will be done under the SADC Sub Regional Transport and Trade Facilitation Project.

Gwengwe disclosed that the Project aims at enhancing competitiveness and socio-economic integration between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania through Nacala and Ntwara Corridors.

“You cannot talk of trade without proper corridors, and this M5 road we take it as a regional corridors because it connects Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique and we have got partners who are really interested in us being able to move goods within the region,” Gwengwe said.

The Project will, among other things – review the existing detailed designs of the Project and rehabilitate 101 km road linking Benga to Dwangwa including conversion of single lane bridges to double lane bridges, construction of two weighbridges and rehabilitation of 50 kilometres of district feeder roads in Nkhotakota and Salima districts.

Whilst commending the lawmakers for passing the loan authorisation bill, Nkhotakota North legislator Henry Chimunthu Banda has asked government to expedite identification of additional resources.

He said: “We are excited, we have asked the finance minister to expedite identification of additional resources, we know some of the resources will come from the Malawi Government component, but some resources will be out of borrowing.”

The Project will be jointly funded by the OPEC Fund, the African Development Bank and the Malawi Government.