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Nothing has been done to implement former Natural Resources Minister Davis Katsonga’s proposal to use the northern part of lake Malawi to generate up to 1,600 megawatts of electricity.
Katsonga in December last year unveiled government’s plans to generate electricity from the lake .
He also indicated that a feasibility study for the ambitious project was expected to start in January this year.
“The study will take about five months after which we will source money for the whole project and Escom will facilitate the work,” Katsonga is on record as saying.
The $1 billion project was expected to get rid of persistent blackouts apart from bringing foreign currency as Malawi could export power to other countries like Somalia, Tanzania and Sudan.
When contacted yesterday Escom spokesperson Chikondi Chimala confirmed that nothing tangible as far as his organisation is concerned had cropped up concerning the issue.
He said currently Escom is concentrating on other projects like the Malawi-Mozambique interconnector.
However, some engineers at Escom indicated that the organisation is reluctant to venture into the project as it sees it not financially viable.
The engineers said in separate interviews that the project was very costly and not sustainable in terms of the cost benefit ratio.
Damaged intake equipment, old generation plant, siltation and aquatic weed problems have crippled Malawi’s power sector.
This has reduced output and made Escom power unreliable as electricity interruptions have become the order of the day to the chagrin of businesses.
Currently Escom power output is estimated at 299.65 megawatts and this includes power produced by stand-by thermal plants.
Experts hope that the completion of the Mozambique-Malawi interconnector could boost generation and allow Escom to maintain and rehabilitate the aged plant at Nkula A.
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