Mining & Trade News

The Competition and Fair Trading Commission(CFTC) says it is investigating cross-border bus operators; InterCape, Taqwa and Jobella Star bus company over allegations that they mistreat their customers.

CFTC says the investigations have been instituted following complaints the Commission has received from passengers and baggage transportation customers for the said cross-border bus operators.

The Fair Trading regulator says, among other concerns raised by the customers, the companies have been denying liability of customers’ goods lost or damaged on transit.

The customers have also reported the companies to the Commission against improper handling of passengers particularly not attending to their physical or health situations during the trips, which is contrary to section 43 of the Competition and Fair Trading Act.

Acting Executive Director for CFTC  Martha Kaukonde  says in an interview that the Commission is handling the cases in accordance with the Competition and Fair Trading Act (CFTA) and the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) which, among other things, prohibit suppliers of goods and services from engaging in unconscionable conduct.

She says: “We have received complaints from customers that their goods are pushed or piled without proper care, which results in the luggage being lost while fragile items get smashed, and the operators have demonstrated unwillingness to provide satisfactory assistance to the affected travelers when they have presented their complaints to their respective offices.”

“The conduct by the said bus companies appear to amount to a violation of Section 43 (1) (g) of the CFTA Act which states that “a person shall not, in relation to a consumer, engage in unconscionable conduct in the trade of goods and services.”

Kaukonde says “so far the commission has followed up on affected customers and former employees in a quest to unearth relevant evidence to present before the board of the Commission that will determine penalties for the companies if found guilty.

Meanwhile, CFTC is urging victims of such malpractices to present their concerns to the Commission in a bid to improve the customer service delivery of the buses.

The Malawi Government has secured funds from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to kick-start the 53km Mangochi-Chiponde (M3) road rehabilitation project.

The Roads Authority (RA) is, meanwhile, inviting consulting firms to undertake engineering studies including a feasibility study and detailed engineering designfor the project.

Procurement Specialist for RAMoses Malinda says in a press release that the consultancy assignment is expected to be executed in 46 weeks.

“Interested consultants must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services (brochures, description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills among staff etc.),” Malinda explains.

He says consultants can also form joint-ventures to enhance their chances.

Malinda says RA will apply shortlisting and selection procedures stipulated in the AfDB’s ‘Rules and Procedures for the Use of Consultants’ of 2016.

He says: “Interested consultants may obtain further information at our website or physically contact us during office hours from 08:00to 16:00hrs local time from October 8th to 23rd, 2019 with clear indication of the bid title.”

The Mangochi-Chiponde road project is under the Multinational Nacala Road Corridor Development Project Phase V.

RA is a quasi-government body which was established by an Act of Parliament in year 2006 with a mandate to ensure that public roads are constructed, maintained and rehabilitated at all times.

The Roads Authority (RA) says it has acquired K1-bilion from the World Bank to carry out maintenance works on roads which were damaged by floods in 15 districts of the country.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) for Roads Authority Portia Kajanga told Mining and Trade Review that the African Development Bank (AfDB) has also shown interest to bankroll the exercise and is still negotiating with the government on amounts to be disbursed and other logistics.

“The damage caused by floods on the country’s road network was quiet big especially in the southern region of the country such that some roads had to be closed and some areas were cut off for a number of days,” she said.

Districts which were heavily affected by floods include Chiradzulu, Thyolo, Mulanje, Phalombe, Blantyre, Zomba, Nsanje, Chikwawa, Mwanza, Neno, Machinga, Balaka, Mangochi, Ntcheu and Dedza.

Kajanga said government already spent around US$866,000 to repair most of the affected roads by providing diversions for World Food Programme to access cut-off areas with relief items.

She said as an emergency response, RA has deployed emergency contractors to provide temporary routes in all areas where roads were washed away.

“Currently we are in the procurement process of acquiring other contractors to grade the roads once we access funding from AfDB,” she said.

She pointed out that among the affected roads, the most important is the M1 Road in Chikwawa which remained cut for about one and a half days which negatively impacted on travel plans for lots of people and organizations.

Kanjanga said the wash-aways on the Makanjira road also affected many people as the road          remained cut for three days before completion of construction of an alternative route.

Besides repairing the roads damaged by floods, the Roads Authority has lined up a number of road projects including construction of the 25.9km Nsanje-Marka Road which is part of a regional route connecting Malawi with the Port of Beira in Mozambique and beyond.

RA also plans to reconstruct and widen the Kaphatenga – Dwangwa Road in Nkhotakota  District and the work will involve replacing single lane and temporary bridges with permanent two lane bridges for the section spanning from Nkhotakota – Bua Bridge.

The other project on the cards is the rehabilitation of the 45km Mzimba – Mzarangwe which is of the key roads in the Northern Region of Malawi.

RA will also reconstruct and upgrade the Chiringa-Muloza road in Mulanje and Rumphi-Nyika-Chitipa road in the northern region which is currently of earth standard and will be upgraded to bitumen Class 1.

Malawi’s public road network coverage by end June 2016 remained 15.451km out of which about 28% are paved and 72% is earth/gravel surface.

Road re-classification studies done in 2016 identified about 9,478km of undesignated road network that serve the rural communities.

Road handles more than 70% on internal freight and 99% of passenger traffic, and more than 90% of international freight and passenger traffic.

Studies indicate that in Malawi, 55% of the costs of production are taken up by transportation costs as compared to 17% of other developing countries.

The condition of paved road network as indicated in a study conducted in June 2014 is 38% good, 40% fair and 22% poor.