19 March 2014, Lilongwe – Expansion plans for the Tedzani Hydropower station have been given a heavy boost following the signing of exchange notes and a grant agreement between the Governments of Malawi and Japan.
The grant will see a total sum of MK418 million being injected in the expansion of the hydropower station detailed project and another sum of MK7.3 billion being used for the implementation of the reconstruction and expansion of Community Day and Convention Secondary Schools in the country.
Speaking in Lilongwe on Monday during the signing ceremony, Minister of Finance Dr. Maxwell Mkwezalamba said by signing of the agreement, the government has moved another step closer towards improving power supply in the country.
“As you are aware, poor electricity supply has been recognized as one of the factors deterring investors and weakening the competitiveness of our local industries. We have been experiencing frequent blackouts until recently after the commissioning of Kapichira Hydropower station phase II which added 64 megawatts to the nation power grid,” said the Minister of Finance.
Dr Mkwezalamba noted that even though there has been an increase in the generation power capacity, there is still need to invest more in the energy sector as demand is projected to rise again by 2015.
Government of Malawi is also diversifying the sources of electricity so that supply should be reliable as they continue to pursue the Malawi-Mozambique Interconnection project and the Kammwamba Thermo Powered plant.
On the education front, the grant is expected to benefit a total of 10 community day and two conventional secondary schools across the country which will either undergo reconstruction or expansion.
Kabwabwa, Mloza, M’binzi, Mwatibu are some of the community day schools to benefit together with Umbwi and Chimwalira Secondary schools.
Japanese Ambassador to Malawi, His Excellency Shuichiro Nishioka reaffirmed his government’s commitment to supporting the socio-economic development for Malawi including infrastructure development in the energy and education sectors.
The Ambassador said Japanese Grant aid funds will cater for large scale developmental projects which have a great potential for significant enhancement of Malawi’s development. “I am very excited that these two projects will be incorporated into the grant Aid scheme and will definitely be important landmarks on Malawi’s development scene,” said Nishioka.
Currently Malawi’s energy sector is facing a number of challenges in order to meet the national socio-economic development growth.
– Malawi News Agency
