Minister responsible for Transport and Public Works Jacob Hara told Zodiak Online on Saturday that ASWAP II project of World Bank which was part of the funding phased out and the government is yet to commit resources to resume work later.

The road which was co-funded by the Malawi government and World Bank under ASWAP II, stalled in 2020 after the bank used its K972 million to construct the first phase of 5.5 kilometres stretch.

"I need to find out about that on what exactly happened because World Bank wouldn't leave the project hanging like that unless they should plan to do the other phases in the upcoming programmes.

"I know most of the projects stalled because of funding issues. Then government was not really committed they would just start work even if there was no enough funding. So I have to look at it and see if we can get funding so that we finish the project," Hara said.

Meanwhile, Thyolo Central Parliamentarian Ben Phiri, hopes government will give the road which connects to Khonjeni railway station the much needed attention to help the district and farmers economically.

"Malawi is agro-based economy so you can't talk about agriculture without developing road network. Again, we have issue of railway that is being done that passes through Khonjeni Station. It is one of the major train stops. So from there when it's offloading it's going to get a better road network, that's why we came up with that road.

"We are hoping that government will give it the much needed attention," He said.

Phiri said will continue lobbying in parliament for the government's allocation on the remaining stretch which was aimed at actualising the Agriculture Commercialization Concept once completed.