Matola and Minister of Mining Monica Chayang’anamuno
* It is time to encourage regional integration while also focusing on developing solutions from within
* He made special acknowledgment of the achievement of Malawi’s EGENCO for bringing back Kapichira Hydro Power Station
* Saying this demonstrates that many solutions can be found locally rather than relying solely on external expertise
By Duncan Mlanjira
Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola has told the 9th edition of the Mozambique Mining & Energy Conference (MMEC) taking place in Maputo from Wednesday (April 26-27) that African countries need to place more trust in their own engineers when addressing issues faced within the energy sector.
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The Minister — who is amongst high level delegations from Malawi, Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe — highlighted this during a round table discussion that it is time to encourage regional integration while also focusing on developing solutions from within.
He made special acknowledgment of the achievement of Malawi’s Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) for bringing back Kapichira Hydro Power Station, which lost all its 129 megawatts (MW) of power through Cyclone Ana-induced floods in 2022 — saying this demonstrates that many solutions can be found locally rather than relying solely on external expertise.
After over a year, EGENCO restored 64.4 MW from the two machines out of four that Kachipira started generating on April 5. The four machines at Kapichira generate 129.4MW, which was all lost when its dam and other infrastructure got washed away in January last year through the floods.
Restoration efforts were rolled out immediately that included redesigning a storm-resilient infrastructure as long term solution and constructing a primary cofferdam to re-divert Shire River water back to the intake to restore power generation.
Restored Kapichira
EGENCO CEO Liabunya inside the plant where the machines seen at the far end are functional
Thus Matola appealed amongst the delegates for greater sharing of skills and ideas between African nations so as to create effective policies which benefit both national and regional levels.
He is quoted as saying: “Such collaborative efforts are necessary since common problems cannot be resolved independently without proper cooperation among African countries.”
In his remarks, Mozambique’s Minister of Mineral Resources & Energy, Carlos J. Zacarias is quoted as concurring with Matola, saying the regional integration is a key towards solving energy challenges that the Southern African region is facing.
He indicated that the Malawi-Mozambique interconnector project is one way how countries in the region can work together.
In November 2021, President Lazarus Chakwera and his Mozambique counterpart, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, launched the construction works for Mozambique-Malawi power transmission interconnection project at Phombeya in Balaka District.
Chakwera and Mozambique President Nyusi commissioning power interconnection
Construction of the interconnection project, from which Malawi is expected to be supplied with 50 megawatts of power, includes construction of 400KV Matambo substation in Tete, Mozambique and 218km of transmission lines from that source into Malawi.
The transmission lines will be 142km from Matambo substation and 76km into Malawi to Phombeya passing through Mwanza and Neno Districts — expected to be completed in 2023.
The objectives of the interconnection project include to contribute economic growth of the region through sustainable power access by integrating Malawi electricity market to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) in order to balance power deficit through regional power trading.
In February, a quarterly publication by OPEC Fund for International Development highly lauded Minister Matola for supporting worldwide calls for global early warning systems to protect energy infrastructure as well as to protect vulnerable populations.
The publication interviewed the Minister ahead of the COP27 Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in which the Quarterly asked him what was his message to the international community to what the United Nations is propagating that everyone should be protected by early warning systems by 2027 — following the havoc caused by Cyclones Idai and Ana in the last few years.
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Matola replied: “Early warning systems are absolutely essential for disaster management as they help governments to adequately foresee potential disasters, plan accordingly and safeguard their people.
“Here in Malawi, I’m confident that we wouldn’t be in the present situation if this system had been in place. For example, when Cyclone Ana knocked out the Kapichira hydroelectric power station, we lost 130 megawatts (MW) of capacity, leaving us with persistent blackouts.
“People lost businesses that rely on electricity — because energy is the driver of the economy. But it goes much further than that. You can’t talk about healthcare without energy, as people depend a lot on supporting machines.
“Whether women in labor going into operating theaters or babies in incubators, persistent blackouts cost lives.”
The Minister further told the Quarterly that in order to help Malawi plan for and respond to natural disasters, he asked UN agencies, other governments and development banks “to invest in early warning systems and put them in place as quickly as possible — to show that we care for the people we serve and prevent further loss of life and property”.
“From the perspective of Malawi, we would welcome this being done as a regional bloc, either via the Southern African Development Community or the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa because Malawi is a member of both organizations.”
Asked if he thought climate change could be an opportunity for deeper coordination and integration across Africa, Matola said: “Everyone is impacted by the reality of climate change.
“It does not care about race, religion or socio-economic background. We are members of a global village. The issues that our nation may experience are likely to spread to our neighbors as well. It is crucial that we cooperate and invest in the mitigation of climate change.
Matola seemed to have prophesied of Cyclone Freddy that whose effects devastated both Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi, when he told the Quarterly that: “If another cyclone as big as Ana strikes Malawi, it will likely also affect Mozambique and vice versa. We must cooperate to resolve this issue in a long- term manner.”
Among the participants in Maputo is the Minister of Mining Monica Chayang’anamuno for the conference being held at the Joaquim Chissano International Conference Centre in Maputo — whose theme is: ‘Utilising Mozambique’s Natural Resources for Transformation & Sustainable Economic Development’
A report on https://africanminingmarket.com says the conference. provides a unique opportunity for networking among all stakeholders and offers insights into the vast opportunities available in these important sectors of the economy.
It further says the 2023 conference is perfect opportunity for participants to explore investment opportunities and connect with regional stakeholders including high level delegations from Malawi, Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and global investors such as Samsol, TotaErnegies, Mozambique Robins Ventures, Jindal Africa and Vulcan international among others
“The event takes place in the context of ever-shifting global resource and energy markets following the likely long-term impact of the CoVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath as well as the geopolitical crisis stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“MMEC 2023 unites key decision-makers across government and industry in which professionals are offering quality business connections to the leaders and dealmakers in the mining and energy sectors,” said the report.
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