Construction of Chimenya bridge in Traditional Authority (TA) Mkhumba in Phalombe District has begun. This is after the Minister of Transport and Public works Ralph Jooma laid ground through a ground breaking ceremony.
According to the minister, the US $134,694 bridge which will be consructed along Phalombe River will not only allow people of Mpasa and Likulezi wards to connect with each other but it will also provide them access to important things such as markets for their farm produce at the Boma and at Mkando in Mulanje.
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Improving access to social services
Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency Mary Mpanga commented that the bridge would-be role of providing people of Likulezi ward with easy access to social services that are mostly on the other side of the river in Mpasa ward.
“The river divides the constituency into two wards and by design one ward is close to the district headquarters where almost all social services are found, so without it people from Likulezi ward struggle a lot to access amenities such as the main health center and secondary schools,” she said. She further added that, construction of the bridge means that the struggle was bound to end.
Construction of the 30-meter-long bridge which was once washed away by heavy rains in 2018, is expected to take 120 days. Construction is being done by Roads Authority with funds drawn from fuel levy.
