NTU kick-started the capacity building activities in Malawi with first round of training courses
Malawi is investing in rural development and NTU is assisting them in their efforts to establish organizational, financial and technical arrangements that will create sustainable conditions for road management at a district level. For the EU-financed Rural Roads Improvement Project, NTU, together with the National Construction Industry Council, recently organized the first local training workshops.

The rural roads issue
While Malawi generally have a very well-established road network, the country’s rural roads have received less attention. The network of district and community roads is generally poorly developed and, in some instances, impassable during heavy rainfall. The current state of the district roads is attributed to a combination of factors, including the lack of operationalization of the National Transport Policy resulting in unclear institutional responsibilities and ad-hoc funding for rehabilitation and maintenance.

To improve the situation, seven major priority areas have been identified: Improvement of the regulation of the construction Industry; Capacity Development of the construction industry; Improvement of standards, quality assurance; Increased Productivity; Regional and International cooperation; Good Corporate Governance and Strengthening of the Institutional framework and Cross Cutting issues.

Improving local resources
An important first step towards improving the situation is to engage local resources through district training, and the first of several planned training workshops were recently held in the cities of Blantyre and Mzuzu. With roughly 50 participants in attendance, from Directors of Public Works, Directors of Public Planning and Supervisors of Works and Procurement Officers to key personnel of various construction districts, the National Construction Industry Council delivered training on the various aspects of procurement of works and services. By providing multi-faceted training programs, local contractors will be able to bid for - and undertake maintenance tasks in the future. Emphasis was put in improving the capacity of stakeholders in the local construction industry, as this will result in a well-capacitated industry which, in return, will result in a well-regulated and professional industry.

You can learn more about our Malawi Rural Roads Programme here: