ZESCO TO INCREASE TRADE IN ELECTRICITY WITH OTHER COUNTRIES TO MAKE REVENUE

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By Derrick Sinjela

ZESCO Managing Director Victor Mulenga Mundende says the company is constructing interconnectors to enable it trade in electricity with other countries and make revenue.
And Mundende has appealed to the business fraternity to support the tariff increment that will enable ZESCO complete the projects and increase reliability of power supply to improve the economy.
Addressing various stakeholders in Chinsali yesterday, Mundende said ZESCO is going to construct a double circuit line from Kafue West into Livingstone so that there are three lines going South, all the way into South Africa.

“So then we can trade with Zimbabwe, we can trade with Namibia, we can trade with Mozambique as well as South Africa,” Mundende said.
He said ZESCO has also embarked on constructing interconnectors from Zambia into Tanzania, then into Kenya.
“So we have a Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya interconnector. For us in Zambia, we are doing the last leg in Kasama where we recently commissioned the 330kv line. So we are moving from Kasama into Nakonde. Once we finish that leg, then that will be the end of the Zambian side of the Zambia -Tanzania Interconnector,” he said.
Mundende said ZESCO is trying to construct a line from Chipata into Malawi, which is already sitting at 330kv in Chipata, into Lilongwe, then into Tete.
He also said it was important for Zambia to have interconnectors into Mozambique as the country has stable power supply.
“Now, Mozambique is an exciting market. When we had a crisis, the entire southern part of Africa, was in a crisis. The only country which had excess was Mozambique, now that’s an exciting market to have a line connected into that country,” Mundende said.
He said the company will be constructing a line from Solwezi into a town called Kolwezi in Congo DRC, Katanga Province.
“So that’s an exciting market for us. In the Southern part, we are looking at reconductoring the line from Kafue town into Livingstone to 330kv. It was wired at 220kv, so now we are changing the conductors to 330kv,” he said.
And Mundende has appealed to all stakeholders to support the increment of power so that projects under way can be completed.
“Kafue Gorge Lower will cost us about US$2 billion. Batoka is estimated at US$4 billion. Once we do all these projects, we will ensure that we provide you with a reliable supply of power, with power which will be there 100%, 24/7,” assured Mr. Mundende.