BY JORDAN SIMEON-PHIRI
The Malawi Engineering Institution (MEI) says it is carrying out investigations to establish the causes of the damage to the embankment at the approaches of Nyachilenga River Bridge on the 22km Nsanje-Marka M1 road.
According to a statement released on Monday signed by MEI President and Board Chairperson Alfonso Chikuni, the Institution was established through an Act of Parliament in 2019 as the authority of the Engineering Registration Council (ERC) to provide for regulation, registration, promotion, and development of the profession of engineering in Malawi and to provide for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.
Reads part of the statement: “Section 7 subsection 2 (g) provides for the Institution to investigate and monitor national emergencies or disasters or any other matter of public concern by, or likely to be caused by an engineering product or service and recommend appropriate preventive, rehabilitative or other measures.”
The statement further says that MEI has learnt of the damage caused to the embankment at the approaches of Nyachilenga River Bridge on the 22km Nsanje-Marka Road due to heavy rains that fell upstream on January 8, 2022.
“The Institution would like to inform stakeholders and the general public that it is carrying out investigations on the causes of the damage to the bridge approach embankment and that the stakeholders and the general public will be informed of the finding of the investigations,” the statement reads.
However, the development has come barely days after a multi-billionaire South Africa based civil engineering expert Simbi Phiri through ZBS Cruise 5 program had attributed shoddy road construction in the country to corrupt inspectorate officials.
Flash floods destroyed the multi-billion kwacha Nsanje-Marka road which was constructed by the Chinese Construction Company, China Railway 20 Group has become under fire for constructing a substandard road.
