Khato Civils, contractor in the much-awaited Salima-Lilongwe water project is at the peak of mobilization and site establishment for construction to start in earnest.
Site establishment is underway at Liwufu in Salima and Kanyenyeva, Mvera and Dowa Turnoff along the Lilongwe-Salima road. One more site will be created at Kanengo, the discharge point of the pipeline.
The contractor has already secured all relevant equipment and materials for the project, some already shipped to Malawi and some on its way.
The equipment includes Cranes – of capacity ranges 30 to 90 tons, Batching plants, excavators, trenchers, Diesel tanks, Concrete pumps, Tipper trucks among others.
An order for pipes has also been secured and Pipe manufacturing is in progress at one of Africa’s biggest pipe manufacturer Africa Pipe Industries (API) in Free State-South Africa.
Recently, financiers of the project that include NBS Bank and CDH Investment Bank, led by the client -Salima Lilongwe Water Supply Company, went on a due-diligence tour in Johannesburg and Free State to inspect production of some key equipment and supplies for the water project.
Another manufacturer of equipment is ECEM who have assembled and built a modern high-tech concrete batching plant – the Karoo 50. This plant will be the first of its kind in Malawi.
The project shall use massive amounts of concrete and therefore three plants of this type, which are mobile, will be on site in Malawi in a matter of weeks for enhanced and effective implementation of the project.
All concrete for the project will be manufactured right on site to reduce the time of moving it on trucks, which comes with so many risks.
See the video bellow to appreciate the status of the mobilization and site establishment thus far.