22 December 2007
Maputo — Mozambique spends between 50 and 70 million US dollars a year on rural electrification, according to Energy Minister Salvador Namburete.
He told AIM that for 2008, the government's plans include the electrification of a further 11 rural districts.
But a greater challenge is posed by finding the electricity needed to establish new, large scale industrial projects. "Our capacity to provide electricity for major projects will decline as from next year", said Namburete. "There are mining and industrial projects, such as the building of steel and aluminium plants, which are waiting for guarantees that the country can provide them with electricity".
Plans for a third phase of the MOZAL aluminium smelter, on the outskirts of Maputo, have been on the drawing board for several years, but will need a further 400 or so megawatts which Mozambique is currently unable to supply.
To meet such large demand requires the construction of further power stations and hydro-electric dams.
The fact that Mozambique now has a majority stake in the Cahora Bassa dam has led to expectations that the pace of electrification will speed up. But that depends largely on the contractors building the transmission lines.
Namburete said the government would do its utmost to comply with the electrification programme, but problems frequently arose "such as contractors who don't meet their deadlines, and money from donors - or even from our own state budget - which arrives late".
"Sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances", he added. "We programme a power line to go from one point to another, but we find along the route there are areas that are still mined, and so we have to change our plans and start demining".
The national electricity grid still only reaches 63 of the country's 128 district capitals. A further four districts are supplied from the grids of neighbouring countries (Malawi and Zimbabwe), while three take their power from electricity generated by natural gas in Inhambane province. The remaining 58 district capitals depend on diesel-powered generators or solar panels, which means that they do not have electricity for 24 hours a day.
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