Extracts from speeches delivered by President Mutharika as well as from Leader of Opposition Chakwera on the Parliament opening on Friday 10th of November. The excerpts are concerning the electricity topic.
Peter Mutharika:
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“Mr. Speaker, Sir, let me now turn to energy development. I am speaking at a time when thousands of Malawians are suffering the pain of power shortage. Our people are suffering the pain of failing to run businesses. Many homes are in the dark for hours. Barber shops for our young men are suffering. In our villages everywhere, women have to wait for hours at maize mills while children wait for food back at home. Life is no longer normal for everyone.
Mr Speaker, the first step in solving a problem is to accept the problem. Let us accept that we have a serious problem that we must solve collectively.
Let us admit that this country is suffering consequences of neglecting the energy sector for many years. Let us be honest to admit that we did not invest to expand our energy generation. For fifty years, we kept thinking as if Malawi would remain what it was in the 1960s.
As Government, we have accepted our responsibility. I am here to make Malawi do what this country could not do in fifty years. We must invest to expand power generation. That is exactly what we are doing.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, our current installed capacity for electricity is 351 megawatts, and generation by Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) has, of late, fallen to 160 megawatts. Priority for distribution of this 160 megawatts is given to essential service providers like referral hospitals and the water boards, which together consume a total of 70 megawatts leaving the remainder, of 90 megawatts, for distribution to industrial and domestic use, hence the frequent load shedding.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, Malawians are aware that major reforms to improve efficiency in the energy supply chain were implemented, including the unbundling of the old Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) in order to separate the generation from the transmission and distribution functions. Through these reforms, opportunities have been created for independent power producers to invest in power generation using various technologies, in order to complement electricity generation by Egenco. The reforms have also created an opportunity for Government to invest in new generation plants and expansion of the existing ones to meet electricity demands in this country. We are targeting 2,500 megawatts in the next 10 years. Yes, Mr. Speaker Sir, developing a country demands patience.
However, Mr. Speaker Sir, my government understands that our people are facing serious difficulties. They need power now as I speak. Therefore, we are acting on both short-term and long-term solutions.
As an emergency cover, we are bringing in generators to boost our capacity by end of December. There are several options being pursued both at Escom and Egenco concurrently.
In the medium term, we are pursuing the following measures:
- Installation of grid-connected solar power plants and diesel powered generators, with a total installed capacity of 70 megawatts and 78 megawatts, respectively, to be completed before the end of 2018;
- Rehabilitation of Nkula A and Tedzani III hydropower plants, to increase generation by a total of 22 Megawatts by the end of 2018;
- Construction of Tedzani IV Power Project with support from JICA, to generate a total of 18 megawatts after commissioning in 2020;
- Construction of Kam’mwamba coal-fired power plant, with a total generation capacity of 300 megawatts, to be completed in 2020; and
- Development of new hydropower plants at Mpatamanga, Fufu, Kholombidzo and Lower Songwe, which will add a total of 869 megawatts in the long term.
The solar powered plant, diesel powered generators, the completion of rehabilitation works at Nkula A and Tedzani III by 2018 should give us an extra total generation capacity of 330 megawatts.
As you can see, we are the Government that cares because we are addressing a problem which this country neglected for fifty years.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, let me also take this opportunity to announce that the World Bank has committed resources amounting to over USD200 million for expansion of access to electricity, especially in the rural to semi-urban areas, to complement the Malawi Rural Electrification Project. We are the Government that is taking electricity to communities never reached before.”
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Lazarus Chakwera:
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“Mr. Speaker Sir, the irony is that the President himself admitted that Malawi’s installed capacity for electricity is 351 megawatts, generated by stations that were constructed or commissioned by the MCP, UDF, and PP regimes. This means that contrary to the President’s fantasies, the only governing party that is yet to add power to the grid while in office is his, and the previous regimes he blames for his failure to do likewise are the ones who constructed the electricity infrastructure that supplies him with uninterrupted electricity wherever he goes while Malawians endure 24 hour blackouts and months of waiting for over-priced back-up generators procured in a fraudulent manner. So in short, Mr. Speaker Sir, when the President stood before this honorable House to narrate what he is doing, there is every reason to believe that he was presenting a work of fiction.”
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(Source: The Daily Times Malawi)