High Ranking SAVE Project Committee Warns Against Delay in Construction

High Ranking SAVE Project Committee Warns Against Delay in Construction

By Anderson Fumulani & Innocent Chikometsa
24 July 2025

High Ranking Officials of the Skills for A Vibrant Economy (SAVE) Project have cautioned contractors building different structures in High Education Institutions (HEI) across Malawi against complacency to avoid missing completion deadlines. The delegations are assessing construction progress, achievements and any challenges.

Led by Secretary for Higher Education, Dr. Levis Eneya and Mrs Chikondano Mussa, Secretary for Labour, the delegation visited multiple construction sites, including public universities, national technical colleges, and community technical colleges in south and eastern regions of Malawi.

While expressing satisfaction with the progress across institutions, Dr. Eneya cautioned the contractors, their consultants and the coordination unit of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) saying nothing should be tolerated to derail the progress to complete within the prescribed timeframe. Construction of infrastructure in the nine public universities is planned for completion with 10-months.

From now onwards, “…everyone should keep the eyes on the ball. Nothing should take our eyes off the ball,” Dr Eneya stated. And to the PIU, he advised that they should not wait for scheduled meetings in order to inspect progress on the sights.

He emphasized that everyone must have a stake in pushing for progress and should not wait for reports.

“Every single minute counts. Because construction takes time” he explained.

The PSC is the highest policy decision making body of the SAVE Project which started to physically monitor progress of the construction.

At each site, project consultants and contractors provided detailed updates of key milestones, current status, and issues encountered during the implementation process.

Construction is the biggest component representing 40% of this US$100 million total cost of project funded by the World Bank. The SAVE Project is implemented by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Labour. A total of 31 institutions nationwide including 9 Higher Education Institutions, 7 National Technical Colleges and 15 Community Technical Colleges across Malawi are benefitting from the project funding.

Planned to end in June 2026, the SAVE Project objective is to increase equitable access to market-relevant skills, especially for females and vulnerable youth in Malawi.