By Peter Phiri:
Lilongwe City Council (LCC) says it has raked in about K2.3 million, two weeks after government reclaimed the bus terminal from Muli Brothers Limited Company which has been operating the facility for the past 15 years .
Speaking at a handover ceremony of the terminal, Minister of Local Government, Blessings Chisinga, said the development marks the beginning of fixing the broken systems in the country.
According to Chisinga, the country’s major bus terminal takeover has energized the ministry to develop the city for the upcoming generations.
“Social media has been awash with criticism, mocking the status of our cities’ bus terminals and comparing them to our neighbours . This is the dawn of a new Era and we believe that with the route government has taken, we’ll move towards a successful implementation of the agenda 2063”.
Chisinga has since given Lilongwe City council a six months ultimatum to start developing the facility with new structures.
Meanwhile, Mayor for Lilongwe City Council, Richard Banda, assured Malawians on fears of politicizing the initiative and corruption, saying “Malawians in the capital city deserve a modernized bus terminal and corrupt free operations of the facility”.
“We at the city council, after a successful takeover of this bus depot, have developed a plan to change the face of the city and the council will soon be engaging interested investors to mordenise the facility.” said Banda.
Government, through the office of the Attorney General, battled with Muli Brothers Limited Company in court to claim the country’s major city bus terminals that were previously owned and operated by Muli Brothers on a lease period between the year 2008 and 2035.
The Attorney General, Thabo Chaka Nyirenda, argued in court that the deal was unfair to Malawians.
