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Siltation Costs EGENCO K10 bn in 3 Years

Water sources must be conserved for power generation boost in the country Water sources must be conserved for power generation boost in the country - pic by Happy Njalam'mano

Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) says siltation has cost the company about K10 billion in three years.

EGENCO Chief Executive Officer, William Liabunya, says the money was spent in reclaiming buried dams and repairing machines damaged by the silt.

“Because of bare hills and bare rivers, we have a lot of siltation that happens. A lot of silt is washed away and goes into the river which ends into our dams.

“This problem makes us to lose the capacity of our dams because they are buried and some of that silt also goes straight into our machines and disturbs the generation operations.

“As such, for us to reclaim those dams, we have spent almost K10 billion through contractors that are helping us to reclaim those dams; otherwise, come 5 – 10 years coming, we could lose the whole dams buried with silt because of the environmental degradation that we are in,” he said.

Led by energy minister, Newton Kambala, EGENCO on Friday planted 3, 000 trees along Lirangwe river in Blantyre that feeds Shire river which EGENCO uses to generate electricity.

Kambala said the activity is one of the ways to address environment degradation and boost hydro-power generation.

EGENCO plant trees annually together with partners such as Association of Environmental Journalists, Malawi Institute of Engineering and Kamuzu College of Nursing.

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Last modified on Sunday, 28/03/2021

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