Chantulo, a tiny but well-known market center in Mangochi’s Chief Nankumba is located along the Masasa-Golomoti (M10) road. M10 connects the capital city of Malawi, Lilongwe, to the lakefront Mangochi district. From Chantulo, starts an earth road going southwards to upland districts of Ntcheu and Balaka passing through Chief Nankumba’s rich agricultural fertile flatlands.

It proceeds through hilly forest areas of Phirilongwe and Chilipa making this road a busy transit for travelers. Lots of traders along this road make a stopover at Chamtulo where Mercy Moto runs a restaurant for over 30 years. “I sell nsima and tea served with scones I bake here.” Most of her customers are peasant farmers and fish sellers. For the three decades Mercy has done business at the place, she says, she has noticed that bicycle is the most popular transport.

She blamed the poorly maintained Chantulo earth road for restricting the options for transportation and discouraging the use of better ones. Mercy, a mother of eight children and six grandchildren cannot survive without the money from the restaurant. She is one of the thousands of locals who are happy that their vital route will soon be upgraded from a gravel to a tarmac surface.

The US government has already provided funding for the road construction project to the Malawi government via the US’ Millennium Challenge Corporation. Malawi is doing the construction work through the Millennium Challenge Account-Malawi II.