Africa-Press – Malawi. Years after they were scheduled to be completed and despite government announcing allocation of funding to the projects, Mponela and Domasi community hospitals are far from being completed.
They are evidence of how government’s budget statements are sometimes usually just some puffy declarations that deliver little on what they promise to the people.
According to the budget statements we have examined, from 2018, the government has been allocating at least K1 billion to each of the two projects in each year. But the projects are nowhere near completion way after the completion deadlines.
Mponela Community Hospital
In October 2017, Dowa District Council gave hope to people in the district when it announced that construction of Mponela Community Hospital was about to start. The construction did start in 2019. Today, the project is far from complete.
The works have halted. Only the following structures have roofs: the laboratory, x-ray unit, under-five, outside patients department (OPD), mortuary and Malawi College of Health Sciences structure.
The following wings have no roof: maternity, kitchen, warehouse, theatre and laundry. Construction of staff houses has not started yet. At least, the site has electricity and water.
But there are no works going on now. The place is deserted. When we visited the site on Thursday, we only found a guard. In September 2020, deputy Minister of Health then Chrissie Kalamula Kanyasko promised the people that government would complete the hospital within three years.
At that time, she said, government had allocated K1 billion for the project. She said government was also processing another K300 million for the works. Although budget documents show K1 billion allocation to the hospital for various financial years, the funds have not been forthcoming.
In 2020, the contractor cited this as the challenge. Project manager for DEC Construction Limited Ellard Malonda said of the K7.9 billion projected, only received half of it had been by 2019. In an interview on Thursday, Dowa District Director of Health and Social Services Peter Makoza said the project registered good progress last year.
Domasi Community hospital
Domasi Community Hospital is another of the hospital projects that have gone unfinished for years now. The project started in 2013. Today, almost 10 years later, it is yet to be completed. The Domasi site has some structures but many are yet to be completed.
This too has been hampered by funding challenges, according to our findings. Zomba District Director of Health and Social Services Alexander Chijuwa admitted the site has been lying idle for some time.
But he could not give more details until next week. A report on Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) Assurance Study of August 2016 says construction works for this facility commended on November 18, 2013.
The project was expected to finish on May 25, 2015. The report says during the implementation of the project, the contractor faced cash flow problems caused by delayed payments and non-payment from the government. At the start of the project, there were land disputes with the surrounding community over compensation issues, according to the report.
Heavy rains during part of the rainy season also left the site idle on a number of occasions prompting the contractor, Union-Maoni Blithe Joint Venture, to ask for extension of time, pushing the completion date to June 10, 2016.
“The revised completion date has elapsed but the project is still not completed,” reads the report. In August last year, Vice President Saulos Chilima said the government would release funding for completion of the project.
“This is a crucial project that must be completed at all cost. We must take it up so that these compensation issues are resolved,” Chilima said. There are no works going on since then.
‘Government remains committed’
When asked why the two projects are taking long, Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe said: “Government remains committed to complete all projects including all those started in previous regimes. Amongst these are Mponela and Domasi community hospitals.”
He said the Mponela project is being implemented in a phased approach. “Phase one has so far achieved over 70 percent progress and this phase is targeted for completion by 2023.
“For phase 2, yes, some delays have been experienced mainly on some technical issues. Moving forward, the ministry has revised its approach on technical information sourcing and we expect this to help in speeding up the progress,” he said.
For Domasi hospital, Chikumbe said the project has delayed mostly due to availability of funding. According to Chikumbe, allocation of funding in the budget does not necessarily mean availability of funds.
“Such unavailability of funding, therefore, generally contributed also to the delayed progress in construction.
“But we are pleased to inform the general public that the contractor responsible is back on site,” he said.
He further said considering that it has been long since the project started, the scope of the works may not be achieved with what was originally budgeted for.
“Therefore, when the contract sum is exhausted, the project will be closed and the remaining phase will be re-advertised,” he said. As the completion of the project looks uncertain, Senior Chief Malemia in whose area the hospital is located is concerned.
He said chiefs and the community played their role to ensure that the project is finished within time. Malemia said some community members are yet to receive compensation.
Blow to health coverage goals
Health rights activist Maziko Matemba says delays in the two projects is hampering access to quality health services by the people in the two areas. “The delay puts Malawi in an awkward position to attain universal health coverage goals,” he said.
He said when government allocates a funding to a project, it should fight hard to get the resources so that citizens appreciate the budgets that are announced in Parliament.
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