Community Technical Colleges Remain a Priority- Minister
Government says it remains committed to see the Community Technical Colleges that are yet to be completed become operational for the benefit of youths in the country.
Minister of Labour, Agnes NyaLonje, said this when she completed a tour of seven of these community colleges.
The projects stalled about two years ago, due to outstanding payments.
According to the Minister, the utilization of the technical colleges is key for the country, on the road to realization of Malawi 2063 agenda.
She has since made an assurance that her Ministry will push for necessary funding to see the completion of the projects.
During the tour, the Minister expressed satisfaction with the strides made in most of the projects, particularly Kalinda in Nkhotakota, Nsona in Chiradzulu, Machinga, Mgabu in Chikhwawa as well as Lura in Rumphi, attributing the good progress to cordial working relationship that exists with local councils.
“I am taking with me positive pictures from the tour where we have seen high quality infrastructures. We have been able to assess exactly what is needed for these technical colleges to take off. The general picture is that we need electricity connection, equipment as well as teaching staff,” she said.
The Minister was however irked with substandard works by one of the contractors, blaming contractor bidding systems as well as lack of enough supervision.
“We have seen a very substandard project in Nsanje where there are a number of issues but mostly pointing at broken systems, among them failure of decentralization to take charge as well as competency of awardees of construction works,” said NyaLonje.
The Minister has since made an assurance that moving forward, involvement of local councils will be taken seriously to enhance supervision at local level.
Executive Director for Tevet Authority, Elwin Sichiola, highlighted that they will ensure that all requirements needed for the establishment of a college are met before they can issue licenses to operationalize the colleges.
