Government has said the Malawi Rural Electrification Programme (MAREP) Phase 8 program will be implemented for seven more months to provide electricity to more areas.
So far, 336 sites have benefited from the MAREP Phase 8 which was expected to end on May 31 and government hopes that from June to December more rural areas will have electricity through the program.
Speaking on Saturday when he switched on MAREP 8 Chinguluwe Power Line at Chinguluwe Primary School ground in Senior Chief Kalonga’s area in Salima, Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Aggrey Massi said electricity enhances economic activities both at household and national levels thereby making people to have more money in their pockets to improve their livelihoods.
Massi then encouraged people in rural areas to apply for power connection.
Principal Secretary in the Energy Ministry Patrick Matanda commended Members of Parliament for the efforts they make in ensuring that their areas are connected to the electricity grid.
He, however, advised members of the community to use experts when wiring and fixing electricity cables in their homes to avoid accidents.
Member of Parliament for Salima Central Felix Jumbe appealed to Escom to minimize the time they take to respond to people’s requests for electricity.
He observed that the longer the period Escom takes to respond to people’s requests for electricity the more retrogressive it becomes to the efforts government is making to ensure that more communities have access to electricity.
MAREP started way back in 1980 with Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) as the implementing agency through donor and own financing. Later on, government took over implementation of the program in 1995 and the Department of Energy (DOE) was appointed the implementing agency.
The objective of MAREP is to increase access to electricity for people in peri-urban and rural areas as part of government’s effort to reduce poverty, transform rural economies, improve productivity and improve the quality of social services.
