35
transport, has it th t the
motivation
-aridesfrom the
need to compete effectively, in the world
market,
as suppliers of agricultural goods. Unless there was
a slip >'f f'-.e pen, this ahouldn1 t he the only, end
indeed tir: nain policy on transportt "bee use implied •
in the policy is that the coun ry will- continue to
relate her development strate, y, nd therefore production
relations to the métropole
(which
I understand to hethe world market). Moreover emphasizing 'agricultural exports' reflects the intention of maintaining, the
structural division of labour we h vc already refered to.
Given the historic! reality it would he
unrealistic to hone that Malawi.-, should restructure her
internal economy so abruptly that overnight she
should no longer be a supnlier of agricultural
;oods to the world market, and even if she is to
restructure her economy, she might need to increase her agricultural exnorts at least in the short run in
order to acquire the necessary
capiitr-.lj
it shouldhowever he stressed that while chasing the world
market she should not lose sight of the internal realities. .
One characteristic feature of underdeveloped
countries
is/$3£
tical link c ween periphery and centreand an absence of horizontal sectoral links within the periphery. It seems the
Malawi
policy ofcommunication net-work is out to strengthen rather
than alter this situ tion. The argument here is
that,
it is not enough to have an outward looking policy to tlie neglect of the internal constraint. There is no
hope for any country to 'ha.vc effective development withou integrating her domestic development activities, and
this needs, among other things an improved internal
communie \tion network.
The decision to build o new capital is perhaps'thex .1. no t crploxing-L <—> of P.••lav/i'.s investment
strategics# Officially there ore two n l..notions given
for undertricing this project# Firstly it in that the present location of the capital in
Zonba
in cheSouthern
area, is not. central#
Therefore
the centre'of government needs to reflect its 'eontrailty' by being within the centre of the nation.Secondly it is'argued th
t
the building of anew urban centre /ill make an other groath pole, a report of'a South African team which studied' the feasibility of moving the capital put it thus: ''in
this respect we consider that the most important
decision taken thus far, is the President's
declaration to develop Lilongwe as the national
capital. Althoug there was criticism b-sed on
short
term reasoning and monetary criteria, this .important step will be an urban growth
point which will generate
optimism and development in an
otherwise predominantly
.rural region,"33. And Dr, Banda himself gives
four
reasons for moving the capital, in his own words: .
"\7hen I asked Parliament to aprove the decision
jby
the Government to move lhe Capital from tomba to Lilongwe... I gave
(four)
reasons. One that tovingthe capital to Lilongwe would accoler
to development
in this country, tv/o th t Lilongv/e. in the
Central
Region v/as the Chief agricultural area in
the country,
three that Lilongwe was of equal distance
between
North and South, four that Lilongwe was in the. main
traffic line between Nairobi to the North, and
Johannesburg to the Couth and was more suitable for building on international airuort than
B1antyre
or Zomba, •'34-«r < *• »
37
From an economic perspective ic may bo true
th t the development of an urban centre nay greatly
facilitate production in adjacent areas, and or ovide
new employment opportunities to the loc-1 c aaiunitv.
During the construction p ripe moreover, the country
experiences an infmux of foreign revenues, employment
goes up, production in related sectors - e.g. foodstuffs,
cement - goos; up, increasing the purchasing power of a good sector of the population, and give the
economy a remarkable upward growth. Besides, the country's fixed assets increases appreciably. From
the apparent, t ough necessarily temporary boom, the government may increase its earnings from taxation of different sorts, and therefore there might be a
spread effect on other sectors.
Yet, even when the above factors arc given
their due respect, it is highly doubtful whether this project will not, in the long run result in a
net-loss rather than gain to the country.
Firstly there- is hardly any convincing argument
to hope that the project will ever directly or indirectly generate the necessary internal output to meet the
loan. It will be necessary "herefore, when the tine
for repaying the loan arrives, to transfer a
substantial port of the»national, wealth, and thereby
limit both the country's purchasing: power :nC its production cap-city. In other words the country will
he paying dearly for a project from which it does not receive corresponding material returns. Of course another point is the very basic one, tht is whether,
such a costly project, financed by foreign resources should have been embarked on in the first place, there are definitely better alternatives upon which such a huge loan should have been expanded.
TRAPS AND TAADS . CP TIOIIS'
Our last focus is on tro.de end t"ade relations.
:Ie do this for two main re p.sons, firstly to look t the
nature of çoomo~iJios involved in her import-export
• « . a
exchange, that is, whether thoy are raw, and primary goods, manufactured goods etc.
It is thus
necessaryas another way to determine the stage of d volopir
nt
she is in, for as earlier
discussed,
oneof the
commonfeatures of un.ierdevelopin; economies, arising from
the
particular centre - periphery".ivision of labour and
specialisation in productionis that the dependent
countries are exporters of raw .materials and
• V 4 I