The Greenbelt Authority(GBA) has unveiled two new contractors to expedite the completion of construction works of Nthola-Ilola Rice processing factory in sub-Traditional Authority Mwangolera in Karonga District.
The authority said it will also complete works on the water intake for the rice irrigation scheme.
in an interview on wednesday, GBA infrastructure development manager Snowden Kautsi said government has allocated K14 billion in the 2025/26 National Budget for the project.
He said: "we intend to construct 357 hectares [ha] in this phase. We have identified China Civil Engineering Limited and Sico civils with whom we have signed contracts for the scheme and the rice processing factory.
"Basically, in this second phase, we have two components with the first component being the construction of additional facilities such as two warehouses, as office block, a drying platform, a perimeter fence and installation of solar power to support the grid electricity while another component involves the completion of the scheme's water intake"
Kautsi further said all things being equal, the two components will take between 18 and 36 months to complete.
"The contractors do not have an excuse because government has committed K14 billion for the phase two projects,"he said.
Nthola-ilola cooperative secretary Alick Nthakomwa said they have the capacity to produce enough rice to feed the nation.
"Therefore, we thank government for engaging new contractors to complete the project,"he said.
Karonga Agriculture Development Division(ADD) chief irrigation officer John Bvutula said the wait was too long for both the ADD and farmers.
"The ADD has potential for irrigation farming with its 21 600ha of irrigable land with karonga having 13 000. Currently, we only use 3 000ha with Karonga using 2 500ha which is just 15 percent of land,"he said.
