Electricity project impresses committee

Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change says it is impressed with the progress of the Malawi Electricity Access Project (Meap) which Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) Limited is implementing across the country.

The committee’s chairperson Werani Chilenga commented on the progress of Meap after leading fellow members of Parliament (MPs) during a tour of Meap warehouse in Lunzu, Blantyre, and some newly-connected sites on Friday.

He said: “We are very impressed with the progress of the project, which is very important in ensuring [increased] access to electricity by Malawians.

“We hope that in the way they are progressing, they will be able to clear the backlog.”

Chilenga appealed to Escom, which is implementing the on-grid component of the World Bank-funded project, to fast-track connections, especially in urban areas.

He noted that rural areas are already covered by other projects such as Malawi Rural Electrification Programme.

Speaking after the MPs’ visit, Escom senior projects manager Alex Kaitane said they are on track to reach the target of 70 000 connections by December 2023, as so far, some 49 000 households have been connected.

“The objective of this project is to increase access to electricity within the communities. Therefore, we are targeting at connecting as many customers as we can. The target for the whole project, which is expected to end in June next year, is 180 000 customers,” he said.

“We have a mid-year target agreed with our financiers, which is to connect 70 000 customers by the end of December 2023, so as we speak, we have connected in excess of 48 000 customers.”

The project rolled out in February this year.