Malawi courts energy investors
President Peter Mutharika yesterday encouraged investors in the power sector from the United States of America (USA) to help boost Malawi’s energy capacity by introducing solar, biomass, wind and coal projects needed to power the nation’s development ambitions.
Mutharika said this at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe where he hosted a Trade and Investment Mission led by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the United States Department of Commerce to explore business opportunities.
Said the President: “We are reforming the power sector so there is no more monopoly of a parastatal—but different players should also come in and all concerned stakeholders are in involved.”
Currently, the country relies solely on the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom), which has enjoyed the monopoly of power generation and distribution providing 387 megawatts on the national grid.
The President said the US investors’ experience in the energy sector would greatly assist Malawi to not only forget about power outages being experienced now but would also provide the nation the capacity to run ambitious development projects.
He commended the MCC for taking Malawi on a firm path that will revolutionise the energy sector.
Briefing reporters after his delegation had had closed-door discussions with the President, MCC Compact Operations vice-president Kamran Khan said the visitors are pleased that there are many business opportunities in Malawi, more assured by the top government goodwill.
