A renowned sports analyst has questioned China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) for the substandard work at the newly built Kamuzu Institute for Sports Aquatic Centre in Lilongwe after video footage has gone viral on social media showing huge cracks and land sinking on the surface and terraces of the newly built Sports facility.
The facility which was for the Region 5 Youth Games last month costed the government of Malawi a whooping K9.4 billion.
The facility started showing poor conditions during the tournament when the division platforms were seen peeling off forcing organisers to temporarily suspend games to carry out maintenance works.
But after heavy rains for the past weeks in Lilongwe the interlocking bricks have disintegrated causing big cracks on the surface and in stands.
In his reaction, sports analyst Charles Nyirenda believes the contractor made a mistake of using the interlocking bricks on the surface instead of solid slabs.
Nyirenda further cited examples of newly built facilities which are also in the same scenario as the Aquatic center.
“The interlocking bricks have been a tragedy in most of the world done so far. We have examples of Kameza roundabout and Area 18 Interchange where the pavement disintegrated because of interlocking bricks so if the solid slabs were used this could have been avoided” said Nyirenda
On the way forward, Nyirenda has asked a serous review of the project to makesure resources are not wasted for nothing.
“If the work is still in progress let government speak with the contractor to rectify on any defects encountered so far but if they completed the construction, I think there’s always defect period of six or 12 months where the contractor retains liability under a construction contract for dealing with any defects that manifest themselves so I hope Government will put this into consideration” he said
CCECC project manager Jerry Jing said the property was not completed and used temporarily for the games.
“These blocks were temporarily used during the games, the plan was that we will redo the pavement after the games. We also need to add the drainages which means we still need to excavate these areas.
“As the contractor, we assure you that the project will be of high quality once it’s finished. We will not handover a project which is substandard to Malawians,” he said.
