By Andrew Mkonda

Lilongwe, February 16, Mana: People of Traditional Authority (TA) Kalumbu in Lilongwe District have expressed excitement with the construction of a bridge on Mlinda River connecting Nthesa and Funachina villages in Lilongwe South East constituency.

Speaking during a media tour, Ntenthera Ward Councilor Davison Mangani said the bridge has eased mobility challenges of the people from the two areas.

“We are thankful to government for this development. Good road network enhances socioeconomic development of an area. This bridge will now give people access to social services such as schools, hospitals and agricultural markets,” he said.

Mangani, therefore, urged communities surrounding the bridge to enhance protection of Mlinda River catchment area by, among other things, avoiding cultivating along river banks.

Head teacher for Mataka II Primary School, Chris Chawanda, said in the past learners were unable to attend classes during rainy season because they couldn’t cross the river.

“We lost two learners when they were trying to cross the river during rainy season. We thank government for constructing this bridge which has also reduced absenteeism,” he said.

One of the Kabaza motorcycle in the area, Noel Maseko, applauded government for constructing the bridge saying it has assisted in boosting their business as they are now running their business without much challenges.

“It was boring when we reach here; customers were told to cross the river on their own and meet them on the other side which was time consuming,” he said.

Maseko said the new bridge has also assisted farmers to be connected to agricultural markets at Kamphata and even in Lilongwe central markets thereby reducing poverty levels.

The K24 million Mlinda bridge was constructed through the Governance for Enabled Service Delivery (GESD) project implemented through the National Local Government Finance Committee with funding from the World Bank.