Ministry of Education science and Technology Principal Secretary Lonely Magreta signed a statement which says the contract with the consultants was signed on April 27, 2016.
“The contract will run for five months, May to September, 2016. At the end of the five months, the consultants will provide the Ministry with detailed designs and costing which will serve as a basis for mobilizing financial resources for the construction of the University.
The actual construction work of the University is envisaged to commence during the 2016/17 financial year,; reads the statement.
The signing ceremony comes against background of rumours that donors for the project have not been found and that it has been abandoned.
“To reach this stage of the project, there were a number of project activities which the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and other Government stakeholders implemented, some of which are assessment and payment of compensation to Malawians who lost their property because of the need to convert their customary land to public land in order to accommodate the construction of the University and assessment and payment for utility requirements at the site such as water and electricity,’ adds the statement.
The university is the brain child of former president, late Bingu wa Mutharika who lined up a number of universities for construction.
Foundation stone for the project was laid by president professor Arthur peter Mutharika with the hope that once its completed it will reduce the scramble for spaces at the University of Malawi and Mzuzu University, the only two public universities in a population of 17 million people.
“The government provided for K200 million in this year’s budget for initial foundations which included water and have electricity connections at the site but it seems nothing has been done so fast, ’further reads the statement.
Out of the five dream universities, only two are open which are Malawi University of Science and Technology and Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
