As many areas across Malawi are experiencing power outage, President Lazarus Chakwera this morning met technocrats and relevant stakeholders to tackle red tape and administrative obstacles that have delayed the implementation of three electricity projects.
Malawi has a generation capacity of about 441 megawatts (MW) at 11 power stations, aaccording to EGENCO. However, yesterday, some machines at two hydropower stations were shut down due to floods. Another power station, Kapichira, suffered extensive damage. Most areas in the country have had no power since yesterday as a result.
This morning, Chakwera worked from the Presidential Delivery Unit stationed in at Capital Hill to push for implementation of Mpatamanga 350 MW Hydro-Power Project, Mozambique-Malawi Interconnector Project and the Malawi Electrification Access Project which have been delayed.
“The three projects represent $1.5 billion of foreign direct investment aimed at doubling the number of Malawians with access to electricity in the next few years,” said Chakwera.
The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Energy, Electricity Generation Company (Egenco), Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom), Roads Authority, Public Private Partnership Commission and the World Bank.
Chakwera, who currently has no cabinet ministers, said the aim was to collaborate in removing all existing bottlenecks towards expedited implementation of the projects.
