The Construction, Mining and Freight Journal, formerly The Construction Journal, was rebranded in December last year to include coverage of the mining sector in Malawi and the region. This welcome development accompanies the growing extractive industry.
With head offices in Lilongwe, Malawi, the latest edition, released on the market in December 2012, focuses on cooperation between Malawi and partner countries and companies: bilateral freight services between Malawi and Zambia, Japanese technical assistance to Malawi, and the commitment with a USD 350 million grant of the US government to rehabilitate and upgrade the Malawian national electricity gird through the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Other pieces focus on the implications of Malawi’s Pensions Act (2011) for seasonal workers, the public transport systems in Malawi, urban planning and control systems in Lilongwe, Malawi, and the boom in construction in Zambia.
This issue includes a one-page article on mining entitled “Mining and the Environment” aimed to provide a basic overview of some of the effect of mining on the environment. The main effects, according to the author Tandu Somanje Chisuse, include deforestation, land degradation, water resource degradation, loss of habitat and biodiversity and toxic waste. These general observations would have benefited from specific, hard evidence of the environmental impact of mining operations in the region.
A modest start for the coverage of the mining sector, but the publication, edited by Yohane Kalinde, has the potential to stimulate critical debate on the sector by keeping readers informed on the latest news and highlighting best practice.
The Construction, Mining and Freight Journal is currently available in Malawi and Zambia.
