President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera says he is reconfiguring how government is going to finance projects and programmes, saying priority will now go towards those sectors that are productive for national benefit.
Speaking when he launched the Nkhudzi Bay Water Supply Scheme in Mangochi on Thursday, the President lauded the state-of-the-art water facility which he labelled as a catalyst of socioeconomic growth in the lakeshore district.
“As Government, we are already gearing up to reconfigure our focus areas for public spending to ensure that the limited resources we have are going towards priority areas that have the most economic and productive impact and not wasted on consumption,” he said.
He added: “We need to accept the painful fact that we only have enough resources to spend on the things that will boost productivity and increase our people’s capacity for revenue generation. And this Nkhudzi-Bay project is a role model of money well spent.”
The President also highlighted the spiralling benefits of access to potable water.
“Additionally, access to clean water has far-reaching effects on the economic life of any community, which is why my Administration has been very aggressive in courting and securing investments in the water sector of our country.”
The Nkhudzi Bay Water Supply Scheme is already benefiting 93,000 customers that are categorized in households, public facilities and businesses. Mangochi, being a tourism hub, has a lot of resorts and hotels meaning the project will boost tourism in the country.
The project has been financed by Kuwait Fund for Economic Development and falls under the jurisdiction of Southern Region Water Board.