Lilongwe — The government has defied calls from the opposition to drop plans of opening the Shire-Zambezi Waterway project instead it is initiating a comprehensive assessment of the channel crossing the Chiromo and Shire North bridges in Nsanje before the project takes off.

A statement from the Ministry of Transport and Public Works is requesting, through advertisements in the press, for expressions of interest to carry out what it calls a comprehensive hydrologic and geomorphic assessment of the channel system crossing the two bridges.

President Bingu wa Mutharika announced this year that his administration has plans to open the waterway, which is going to cost over K100 billion with funding from donors as way of improving the country's transport system.

He said the project would directly affect people living around Chiromo in Nsanje which would eventually turn into a city and those living along the Shire River and Lake Malawi because their businesses would be boosted.

But opposition party officials described the idea as a non starter saying the government should instead improve the existing Mtwara and Nacala Corridors.

The statement from the Ministry of Transport and Public Works says at Shire North station, where the railway crosses the Shire River, the Southern railway embankment is at risk from the variable and unpredictable nature of Shire River.

"The embankment is under threat due to a gradual change in the direction of the river. The river has meandered substantially from its original course, such that that its flow is now directly facing the southern approach to the four span bridge.

"The encroachment farming activities into the river embankment is worsening this change in direction. This is likely to result in a washout of the track and embankment," says the statement.

Minister of Information and Tourism Patricia Kaliati says the project is not just another pipe dream as described by the opposition, saying the government has a lobbyist at New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) which is a potential donor of the project.

She said she was hopeful that the project will take off as soon as funds are sourced.