No political interference in energy sector—Govt

Minster of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Atupele Muluzi has assured the country that his ministry will endeavour to promote professionalism by giving room to Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) to deliver quality services to the nation.

He said Escom being the sole generator, transmitter and distributor of electricity, his ministry will strive to enhance efficiency of the services of Escom by separating its functions into electricity production, distribution and marketing which will be run by autonomous institutions.

Said Atupele: “Our task as a ministry and government will be to fully support Escom in any area that may need support in order to deliver quality services to Malawians. We shall consult on challenges and other issues that need to be addressed to promote efficiency and performance of Escom.

“We will allow Escom to effectively carry out its operations by minimising interference in its operations in a manner that is consistent with the overall development goal of Malawi.”

Atupele further said, ministry plans to increase availability and generation of power supply revealing that his ministry is in the process of implementing the seventh face of the Malawi Rural Electrification Programme (Marep) which begun in 2011.

“We have set higher targets in the Marep’s 8th phase which we intend to implement in the near future. As such, we have put in place indicators to ensure that those targets are met on time. We want our Malawi to be economically strong and have a solid energy generation, transmission and distribution policies,” he said.

Meanwhile, the project which targeted 81 trading centres representing three centres per district has covered 21 centres completed by Escom as contractor and the remaining 54 are under construction by a group of constructors.

He said with regard that every successful economy in the world has an efficient energy availability and supply his ministry will promote active public partnership in the energy sector and improve investment and strive to see that standards of performance and service delivery amongst all public sector organisations.

“Government is committed and will conduct feasibility studies for increased power generation and explore alternative energy sources including clean energy. On top of that, we will also encourage private players to invest in energy to ensure adequate provision of electricity,” he said.

Atupele also appealed to the public to work with Escom where possible to address problems of vandalism and refrain from illegal connections to ensure the smooth running of the energy sector.