Lilongwe City

The beauty of Lilongwe City
by Tiyamike Kathewera

Lilongwe is the capital city of Malawi. It is located in the central region of the country, one of the three regions. The city is a centre of economic activities with various factories and industries taking centre stage. This relatively big city is home to close to 600,000 people most of which are in the middle class (2003 census).

Lilongwe city started life as a small village on the banks of the magnificent and long Lilongwe River, and became a British colonial administrative centre at the beginning of the 20th century. Due to its location on the main north-south route through the country and the road to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Lilongwe became the 2nd largest city in Malawi. In 1974 the then president of Malawi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda moved the capital from Zomba to Lilongwe.

Though Lilongwe is the official capital of Malawi most commercial activity takes place in Malawi's commercial city, Blantyre. Recently government, under the directive of the incumbent president, His Excellency Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, moved all its head offices to Lilongwe, as it should normally be. The national assembly is housed there now at the presidential residence, New State House. A new and modern multimillion dollar parliament building is currently under construction at city center in the hub of administrative activities of the country.

Transportation in Lilongwe

Almost all roads in the city are tarmac. The major means of transportation means are minibuses. They are very affordable and comfortable especially owing to the fact that government introduced a new legislation requiring that only three people seat per row against the previous four people per row.

Tourists and other people that want to visit the city should not panic as there are several car hire service providers in the city at affordable and competitive rates.

Lilongwe also has the country’s main international airport, Kamuzu International Airport. The airport connects the city to other cities and districts like Blantyre and Mzuzu. The airport is beautiful and smart. There are taxi that conveniently ferry people to and from the airport at fair prices.

Shops (By Wikipedia-Free Encyclopedia edited by Tiyamike Kathewera)

The main western-style shopping area is around Shoprite and the Nico Centre in
Area 3, on the west bank of the Lilongwe River in Old Town. A newer, similar shopping center is located near the Mchinji round-about across from the Seven Eleven filling station - the elegant Crossroads Shopping Center. Several internet cafes are located in and around these two shopping centres. Gifts and crafts can be bought from the post office craft market directly opposite the Nico Centre. To get a fair deal in the craft market, you must bargain hard. Pharmacies, forex bureaus and banks (including Stanbic and Malawi National Bank) are located throughout the city. ATM's which accept VISA cards are available at the banks mentioned above in City Centre and Area 3. It should be noted that almost any necessity can be purchased in Lilongwe, and many back-packers and overland travellers stop in Lilongwe to stock-up and enjoy city life for a few days.

Areas (Wikipedia edited Tiyamike Kathewera

The city has many districts known as Areas. Areas are numbered, and range from one to fifty or more as the city grows - City Centre not being a numbered Area. The Areas are not necessarily consecutively numbered from one area to another.

Some Notable Areas are:

>City Centre is by far the most modern, developed area of Lilongwe. Many banks (Stanbic - or Standard Chartered, National Bank of Malawi, NedBank, the Reserve Bank of Malawi), diplomatic missions, exclusive hotels (Sunbird Capital Hotel), airline offices (including South African Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, British Airways, Kenya Airways) and international corporate offices are located in City Centre.

>Area 2: Old Town (North of A1) - Closest to the city centre; thriving commercial district, frequented primarily by locals; clothing, local food, western-style groceries, car parts, building supplies, bicycles/bicycle accessories are available here; home to Lilongwe's main local market, two major mosques, and a sprawling mini-bus station.

>Area 3 and Area 9: Old Town (West of A1) - West bank of the Lilongwe river; large, wealthy residential neighborhoods, expatriate bars, nice hotels, western style shopping and restaurants, private expatriate clinics (Moyo Wathanzi on Likuni Road - Dr. Huber of Amsterdam).

>Area 47: Home to African Bible College, and its dependable, inexpensive missionary clinic which is typically staffed by American doctors. There is also a small stadium (Silver stadium). Children of the Nations is headquartered in African Bible College

>Other medium to low density residential areas are Areas 6, 12, 11, 43, 10, 44.

>There are also areas 15, and 18 which are medium to high density. Area 15 in particular has about 250 bungalows and houses medium earners.
While the areas mentioned above are quite wealthy, safe, and modern, many citizens of Lilongwe live in sub-standard/non-permanent housing in a variety of Areas, often without electricity or running water.

>Area 25 is a high density area with mainly low income earners. The township is mainly known for housing labourers and other factory workers who ply their trade at Kanengo, an industrial area. It is divided into Area 25A, B and C. There are shops providing anything necessary for human beings