Malawi

Download an overview of the pilot phase in Malawi here.

Malawi Disclosures

After a successful launch on 10th July, 2010, CoST Malawi has enjoyed increased interest from various sectors in society. The government for one has shown great interest and has given so much support for the initiative by spreading the message of CoST in various fora; the then Minister of Transport and Public Infrastructure Honourable Khumbo Kachali (MP) spoke at the Engineers dinner held at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre and he emphasized the importance of accountability and transparency in the construction industry and made special reference to the CoST initiative and how his ministry is proud to be associated with such a progressive initiative.

Development partners have also given CoST Malawi great support by the way they patronize functions organized by the MSG; the World Bank and Africa Development Bank have attended most of the MSG meetings, the official launch and the breakfast briefings on the findings of the studies. Dean of the Diplomatic Corp in Malawi, Her Excellency Madam Dumbutshena has given her full support to the initiative by attending major CoST functions.

There has been a good representation of the construction private sector and the civil society during MSG meetings and there is a clear indication from these groups that the initiative is greatly supported in their circles.

The Baseline and Assurance studies were completed on 17th September and following the completion, breakfast briefings on the findings of the two studies were held on 27th and 28th September. The briefing on the 27th targeted government officials in ministries and departments, development partners, the construction private sector and procuring entities. Attendance was very good; the guest of honour was the World Bank representative to Malawi, Madam Sandra Bloemenkamp.

The briefing held on 28th targeted civil society organizations and the media. It was envisaged by the MSG that the two groups would be good ambassadors of spreading the message on CoST and advocating to policy makers in government to adopt the principles of CoST and continue supporting the initiative. The common observation from the civil society organizations was that the findings of CoST would give them leverage to push through the freedom of access to information bill while the media called for more guidance from experts in the construction industry in writing their articles to avoid reporting wrongly on construction issues.

Both the Baseline and Assurance consultants made PowerPoint presentations on the findings of the two studies detailing the methodology employed, challenges encountered and the actual findings. The Baseline findings indicated that disclosure of project information is only mandatory by law during the tendering phase but not at any subsequent phase of the project. The findings also revealed that there were time and cost overruns on most of the sampled projects. The Assurance findings showed that poor project management was the major contributing factor to poor workmanship, cost and time overruns. The two presentations raised great interest from the audiences and the procuring entities present whose projects had been studied were at liberty to respond to particular queries raised.

The second round of disclosures was conducted by CoST secretariat at the 7th Annual Engineers Conference that was held in Mangochi from 30th September to 1st October, 2010. This is a gathering of Engineers in the fields of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering that takes place yearly to discuss the successes and challenges in the Engineering industry in Malawi. The MSG viewed this as a good opportunity to engage the big players in the construction industry and provoke the policy makers into action. The presentation dwelt much on the findings of the Baseline study to give a clearer picture of the situation in the construction industry, the shortfalls identified and highlight the need for increased levels of disclosure. The presentation aroused much interest from the gathering of Engineers and the many enquired how they can to access the full reports.

You can download full reports of the Assurance and Baseline studies and the PowerPoint presentations made at the breakfast briefings and the Engineers conference.

The Malawi MSG has published their Baseline report, click on the following link to review the report