Escom needs K127.5bn for transmission upgrade
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) says it needs $120 million (about K127.56 billion) to improve part of the transmission line between Central and Northern regions via the lakeshore.
Escom chief operations officer Maxwell Mulimakwenda said in an interview on Wednesday in Lilongwe that the money is expected to cover installation of steel towers as the current system is supported by wooden poles erected decades ago and are getting damaged by termites.
He lamented that the current transmission system is in a poor state, a development which leads to power interruptions from time to time.
Said Mulimakwenda: “Thereafter, we will be looking at how we can mobilise the $120 million because on that line we also want to construct a new line from Nkhoma [in Lilongwe] to Salima and then upgrade the existing one from Salima to Chintheche [in Nkhata Bay], but also from Nkhotakota to Chinyama up to Kanyika in Mzimba because there will be a new mine at Kanyika. So, we want to provide that infrastructure to the mine.”
In his remarks, committee chairperson Enock Phale said Escom needs to be supported on the project because it will help increase access to electricity, and the amount involved is huge, but it is for a good cause as it will improve capacity of Escom to supply power and people’s livelihood.
In 2011, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and Malawi Government signed a $350 million energy compact aimed at improving the power sector.
Among other things, the compact saw the refurbishment of Nkula A Hydro Power station, upgrading of power substations, construction of new ones and erection of high voltage transmission lines on steel towers.
The transmission lines upgraded were from Phombeya in Balaka to Nkhoma in Lilongwe and from Chintheche Substation in Nkhata Bay to Bwengu Substation in Mzimba District. The section between Salima and Chintheche was skipped.
