23/08/2023
Malawi's Old Capital City on a recovery path
Zomba City is set to drive on the expressway to economic recovery, growth and innovation.
This is, however, dependent on the response from stakeholders who are going to attend the 25th August 2023 summit, which is going to take place in the city.
In a bid to ensure that the city becomes economically competitive with high growth industries, skilled workforce and a vibrant business sector centered around the industries, Zomba City Council authorities have decided to engage the public for break-through ideas.
Rearing from the background of meagre tax revenue generation by the council, poor budgetary funding from the central government and unpredictable private financing, the City Council anticipates the summit to unlock opportunities critical to the city’s infrastructure and services for economic growth.
The indaba may be the open door that banks and insurance firms were waiting for to reach out and dangle their services and products to investors in sectors such as construction, real estate, manufacturing, transport and telecommunications, hospitality, agro-processing, wholesale, and small-scale mining.
Development experts agree that private sector development stimulates job creation and promote productive city residents through income earnings that help them support different industries, thus making their city economically competitive against other cities.
In Zomba, trade, dominated by the wholesale and retails services, is the main private sector investment segment. However, manufacturing and other industries have huge contributions to make to the city’s development but are restrained by unfavourable policies, lack of access to finance, unreliability of electricity and water supply.
Maryking Mwinuka, Human Geography lecturer at the University of Malawi says she anticipates the summit to come up with suggestions that will make Zomba attractive to different stakeholders.
“Authorities should be able to show that the city has potential for high growth rates for businesses and jobs, the city’s infrastructure must be of modern quality and affordable, availability of skilled workforce, quality education and research as well as that it is a safe and better place to live in” she says.
Located on a naturally gifted landscape, characterized by mountains and valleys lined with forest plantations and rivers, Zomba district hosts Zomba City. The city seats at the foot of one of Malawi’s prestigious elevations, the famous Zomba Plateau.
The mountain forms the ridge that separates the Upper Shire Valley in the western part of the district, and the Lake Chilwa plains on the east.
The setting itself, coupled with its tropical continental climate, influences the rains and create advantages, especially in the agricultural sector where the range of ecological conditions allow for the production of different crops, fruits, fisheries and animal husbandry.
Hyphen Media Institute, a local development platform, suggests that Zomba City must promote trade and investment in the food manufacturing industry to cater for household, tourism, hospitality, entertainment, sports, health, academic and research sectors as well as the export market.
The Institute’s Community Mobilisation Officer, Jacqueline Mlenga, says the council should consider the possibility of processing the district’s agri-based products including fruits and vegetables for the local and export markets.
“Opportunities exist in the brewery industry for the production of beer, liquor, and soft drink products,” she says adding that the district’s natural resources can be exploited to support the manufacturing industry in producing fertilisers, grain products, meat and poultry products, confectioneries and clothes.
Attached to the district’s scenic beauty are tourism pay-offs in the form of business and holiday hospitality, mountain climbing, fishing, horse riding, bird watching, searching and digging for crystal stones, collection of fresh exotic fruits, cultural heritage and visiting historic sites. The Ku Chawe Breeze
