Some small-scale business operators in the country have decried the persistent power blackouts, saying the situation is slowly crippling their operations.
In an interview on Tuesday, Chamber fro Small and Medium Business Association chairperson James Chiutsi indicated that the power outages have worsened the plight of small and medium entrepreneurs(SMEs) at a time they were recovering from adverse effects of Covid 19.
He said: ”Covid 19 had a huge negative influence on businesses, SMEs were hoping to recover now, but blackouts are destroying all hopes.”
Chiutsi advised the SMEs to work together to make use of other energy sources of energy since hydroelectric power generation is no longer dependable.
In a separate interview, Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito observed that power outages have not only affected businesses, but also consumers, adding that the trend has lowered the economic status of service beneficiaries.
He said: ”Therefore, by not having electricity, government has declared poverty among all Malawians.
In an interview on Tuesday Paul Nang’oma, who runs Zack Welding Services in Blantyre, said the frequent power outages have dealt a big blow to his business.
He said: ”When electricity was efficient i used to make K150 000 to K200 000 in two days but these days i make K5 000 a day. Sometimes nothing at all.
Nang’oma adds that the duration of blackouts is way longer than expected as power is available for only two hours per day. Flora who runs a hair dressing salon in Manja Township in Blantyre, she said is now facing huge losses as a result of the power rationing.
The power outages have worsened following the impact of tropical cyclone ana which affected Kapichira-electric Power Station.
On January 24 2022, Tropical Storm Ana struck the dam and power station, causing catastrophic damages, that led to closure of the installation. This led to the loss of an estimated 130 megawatts(MW) of generation capacity, equivalent about 30% of the national output.
On Monday, President Lazarous Chakwera committed that his administration would work on increasing the country’s electricity capacity to 1000MW by 2025.
Currently Malawi has a capacity of 450MW produced from hydro and solar power plants.
But there are plans to have more hydropower stations and solar power stations in various parts of the country to boost electicity.
Source: The Nation_14th july 2022_By Revival Mwanandi-Staff Writer