Maputo — The Mozambican government says that several of the country's cooperation partners have expressed willingness to grant the necessary funds to build a new power transmission line from the Cahora Bassa dam, in the western province of Tete, to Maputo.

The project, described as the backbone for the expansion of the Mozambican electricity grid, is budgeted at 2.5 billion US dollars.

Energy Minister Salvador Namburete said that this is an undertaking for immediate implementation, in order to facilitate other power generating projects, some already underway, and others still being prepared.

He added, however, that no dates have yet been fixed for the beginning of construction work on the new transmission line, but the money should be made available before the end of this year.

"We hope to finalize the funding before the end of this year. There are guarantees already for the funding from our partners, and we hope everything will run as planned, because this backbone is to guarantee a route for the electricity that other projects will generate', he said

According to Namburete the country's partners, and Mozambique's own electricity company, EDM, have already disbursed six million US dollars that were used for studies related to the commercial structure of the project, its feasibility, and some other aspects.

Namburete was addressing a press conference in Maputo on Tuesday where he spoke of the projects in the energy sector for the coming five years, as part of the government's energy strategy approved by the Cabinet earlier in the day.

Currently power from Cahora Bassa does not reach Maputo directly. Since the dam was designed under colonial rule to serve South African needs, the existing power line goes straight to the Apollo sub-station in South Africa. Power for Maputo is routed through South Africa on lines belonging to the South African electricity company, Eskom, and rented by EDM.

The new line will end this dependence on transit through South Africa. Namburete added that this undertaking will be important for such projects as the M'panda Nkuwa dam, to be built on the Zambezi, 60 kilometres downstream from Cahora Bassa. Construction of the dam, costing 1.65 billion US dollars, is likely to start next year, and it will have a capacity to generate 1,500 megawatts.

Furthermore, a second power station is proposed for Cahora Bassa, on the north bank of the river, which will add a further 1,000 megawatts to the dam's generating capacity. The current transmission lines cannot possibly handle the extra power, hence the need for a new line.

"The backbone is essential to bring electricity to the entire country and to supply it to other countries in the region", said Namburete.

Namburete predicted that, with the expansion of the electricity grid, more than 20 per cent of Mozambicans will have access to electricity by 2014, compared with the current figure of 13 per cent.