Salima Sugar Factory Ready

Posted on : Monday , 12th October 2015

Construction of the Salima Sugar Factory will be completed at the end of this month, but there is no sugarcane to process as work in the cane growing area was halted some time ago due to what the Minister of Agriculture Dr Allan Chiyembekeza described as mismanagement of funds.

Breaking the news in Salima on Thursday after touring the factory site, the minister said that the contractor assured him that the work would be completed by 31st October, 2015.

"The contractor has assured me that the factory will be ready at the end of the month, as of now they are doing final touches.

"When the plant is ready we are going to do the testing using sugar cane from Dwangwa as currently the cane growing here is not ready as it was abandoned sometime ago due to unavailability of resources. Resources that were allocated for the project at that time were mismanaged," said the Chiyembekeza.

He however said the problem has been sorted and sugarcane will be planted in the designated plots near and around the factory any time soon.

So far plots have already been allocated to three groups namely the small holder farmers, the medium scale farmers and the large part goes to the Salima Sugar Company which is a joint venture between government and two other investors.

According to the Coordinator for Green Belt Initiative Dr Henri Njoloma, government holds 40 per cent shares in the sugar company while the rest are owned by two private investors.

Njoloma also revealed that the business venture is worth US$90 million.

Earlier in the day the minister also toured the Malawi Mangoes Factory, mango and banana plantations.

Source : allafrica.com

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