Malawi’s main power station stopped operating after the Kapichira Dam was damaged by heavy rains following the landfall of tropical storm Ana early this year. The situation has led to power cuts that

EGENCO spokesperson Moses Gwaza says they have secured $60 million from the World Bank to undertake the maintenance works.

“We have made great progress because we are now completing preparations for the commencement of the reconstruction work. We had World Bank experts in hydropower who were here in the country to work to finalize the preparations for the start of work,” Gwaza said.

He said; “But we also have in the country experts from Korea who are also working on the Shire River Irrigation Project but we have an agreement with the World Bank that we are going to use thousands of engineers so that we can pass the project.”

Commenting on the matter, energy expert Grain Malunga said the rehabilitation works should be hasten to avert the current power outages that have led to economic losses.

Dr Malunga added, “If they are to construct another dam that will contain the water that will be used to generate the panel, usually the impact that may be there is it may help to reduce the number of segments that are in the river and that will increase the river’s holding and it will affect aquatic life for those plants and animals that live in the water in terms of destroying their habitants.”

The country has a projected demand of 618 megawatts (mw) of electricity but the current capacity stands at 265 megawatts. This means the country has supply deficit of about 333 mw.

(By Doreen Shamiel Phiri-ZBS)