Malawi’s roads handle more than 70 percent of its internal freight and about 99 percent of it being passenger traffic.
The public road network in the country in Malawi is listed into five categories, main roads, urban roads, secondary roads, tertiary roads and district roads.
However the poor quality of many roads in Malawi has designed itself to put lives of its people at risk.
As we speak most roads in the country have been washed away due to cyclones the country has had recently, that have affected the country, a situation blamed on poor construction of these roads in the first place.
The situation is as such despite the Roads Fund Administration putting in place efforts including payment of toll fees in the country’s toll gates to help in the maintenance of the country’s roads.
This is also despite parliament passing the roads authority amendment bill that amended the roads act in order to make better provision for the composition of the board of the roads authority.
The amendment was also meant to ensure that the board is composed of members who have the requisite educational, professional and technical experience.
However an associate professor in civil engineering at Malawi university of business and applied sciences Dr. Ignacio Ngoma says the situation is as such due to lack of knowledge in proper road construction.
His concern, is the lack of culverts as well as poor drainage system that has resulted into damage of roads.
He also blames the city councils for giving out land to people meant for building of roads, which according to him is one of the reasons that caused the flash floods in the Southern region which also affected water and electricity supply living many households without water and electricity.
Ngoma calls upon government to find contractors that have the technical know- how into construction of roads.
He also calls on the authorities to avoid offering cheap contracts to foreigners who don’t do a good job.