Mining & Trade News

There is a need for the country’s small-scale farmers to form cooperatives if they are to graduate from subsistence to commercial farming.

Registrar of Cooperatives in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism Wiskes Nkombezi said this atthe official launch of the Cooperative Development Activity 4 (CD4) project which is being implemented by US premier agribusiness company, Land O’Lakes, with funding from USAID to the tune of $1.7 million.

Nkombezi said: “The Government of Malawi is encouraging farmers to come together, through cooperatives and pursue farming as a business; the CD4 comes in as a part player, joining the Government of Malawi and other development partners to further this agenda”.

He expressed gratitude towards development partners who are taking part in strengthening farmer based organizations saying it would be difficult for the government to succeed in the project without their support.

“Collaboration is very important. Therefore, I take this opportunity to request all partners present today to synergize your efforts, as we all continue to contribute to the development and growth of the Cooperative Movement in Malawi. We will achieve the goal of sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction if we continue working together”, Nkombezi said.

The CD4 aims to improve the cooperative enabling environment by strengthening apex organizations and by promoting a Cooperative Learning Platform, enhance cooperative business performance through tailored technical assistance and to advance development communities support for cooperatives through supporting research in cooperatives and disseminate findings through both local and global channels.

Nkombezisaid the project is important to strengthen cooperatives as some collapse due tolack of knowledge on how to run them as business enterprises.

“Cooperatives need technical capacity strengthening to support their sustainability and growth. If cooperatives are strengthened in aspects of business operations, they are empowered to make sound business decisions which in turn enhances their growth,” Nkombezi said.

In his remarks, USAID Office Director Cullen Hughes said CD4 has come in at an opportune time when Malawi government and development partners are strategizing on the implementation of the National Agricultural Policy (NAP).

NAP emphasizes on developmentof farmer organizations as a key intervention for driving Malawi’s agricultural development.

“In response to the need for strong farmer organizations in the operationalization of the NAP, the Department of Agricultural Extension Services has developed a strategy for farmer organization development to which the program being launched today is closely aligned,” he said.

Agriculture remains the driving force of Malawi’s economy contributing approximately one third of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and nearly 80%of export revenue.

The Malawi Government has secured funds from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to kick-start the 53km Mangochi-Chiponde (M3) road rehabilitation project.

The Roads Authority (RA) is, meanwhile, inviting consulting firms to undertake engineering studies including a feasibility study and detailed engineering designfor the project.

Procurement Specialist for RAMoses Malinda says in a press release that the consultancy assignment is expected to be executed in 46 weeks.

“Interested consultants must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services (brochures, description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills among staff etc.),” Malinda explains.

He says consultants can also form joint-ventures to enhance their chances.

Malinda says RA will apply shortlisting and selection procedures stipulated in the AfDB’s ‘Rules and Procedures for the Use of Consultants’ of 2016.

He says: “Interested consultants may obtain further information at our website or physically contact us during office hours from 08:00to 16:00hrs local time from October 8th to 23rd, 2019 with clear indication of the bid title.”

The Mangochi-Chiponde road project is under the Multinational Nacala Road Corridor Development Project Phase V.

RA is a quasi-government body which was established by an Act of Parliament in year 2006 with a mandate to ensure that public roads are constructed, maintained and rehabilitated at all times.

The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism has lauded achievements in the implementation ofthe first National Export Strategy (NES I) which ran from2013 to 2018.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry Ken Ndala said during a consultative workshop in Lilongwe to brainstorm on the design of the National Export Strategy IIthat achievements of the initial phase include development of the Trade, Industrial and Small and Medium Enterprises Policies; and Control of Goods Act.

The achievements also include operationalization of the Buy Malawi Strategy; development of the National Trade Facilitation Action Plan; Construction of Standardization, Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM) infrastructure at Malawi Bureau of Standards; setting up of One Stop Border Posts; and establishment of One Stop Service Centre at Malawi Investment and Trade Centre.

Ndala said fruits of the NES I also include Simplified Trade Regimes, establishment of Online Business Registration System, establishment of the Collateral Registry, Development of the Financial Literacy Strategy, Development of the Warehouse Receipt Bill, The Credit Reference Bureau Act,and The Personal Property Securities Act.

“The NES I also yielded the Establishment of Online Investment; Development of Labor Market Information System (LMIS); Development of the National Labor and Employment Policy; Establishment of Malawi Trade Portal; and Linking smallholder irrigation schemes to seed companies,” he said.

Ndala also said the strategy resulted in the introduction of an online Oil Seed Extension Coordination Platform and Decentralization of the issuance of crop buying licenses to Agricultural Development Divisions (ADDs) across the country.

He saidthese outstanding results were achieved through Technical Working Groupswhich were set under the Trade, Industry, and PrivateSector Development Sector Wide Approachasthe implementation platform of the NES I.

Ndala said such benefits from the NES I are an inspiration to launch the NES IIadding that the first phase has provided legal frameworks for the implementation of NES II.

He said it is imperative to undertake NES II tofinalize the key investments that were supposed to be undertaken in the sector under NES I as well as deal with emerging issues that will be identified in this successor strategy.

Despite the notable achievements, the NES I still did not fully address the policies that the Ministry set in the plan.

Ndala said the under performance of the NES I was due to the deficient resource mobilization with heavy dependence on development partners and donor agencies and also low level of investment in productive sectors in terms of local investment in manufacturing projects with high value addition.

“The NES was overdesigned and too ambitious to be realized within a five-year period, given the prevailing conditions; It reflected more of an Industrial Policy rather than an Export Policy as very limited actions for effective export promotion, facilitation, export development, aftercare, and policy advocacy were planned,” he said.

Ndalaalso said week and ineffective collaborative framework between Ministries and Agencies affected competitiveness of local products and services on the international markets following the higher costs of doing business in Malawi as compared to other competing countries. 

Commenting on the challenges faced, Director of Planning in the Ministry Francis Zhuwaosaid the obstacles arose due to unpredictable financing leading to no drastic growth in exports as expected that necessitated the review and development of the successor strategy.

“With support from the Commonwealth Secretariat, we have therefore gone into the development of a successor strategy. It is my sincere hope that we will give this process the same support that we gave during the design of the NES I,” Zhuwao said.

He expressedgratitude to the Commonwealth and all development Partners in the Trade, Industry and Private Sector Development sector for technical and financial support.

In her remarks, Commonwealth Trade Adviser Yinka Bandele said the body saw it right to fulfil their duty of supporting developing countries on economic issues.

Bandele said: “The Commonwealth is very committed to supporting member countries’ efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including through trade. We look forward to working with the Government of Malawi on a new strategy that will overcome key hurdles to growth and help transform the economy.”

She further urged the government to draw lessons from the previous NES in strategizing the new plan.

Bandele also said Malawi needs to work on economic diversification to do away with over-dependence on agricultural produce.

Malawi, whose main export commodities include tobacco and tea,is facing a significant trade deficit as it is importing about twice the value of goods it exports.

The Ministry is, therefore, working on finding solutions to issues affecting trade competitiveness, and identifying priority sectors for export development and lead markets for increased trade.

The Ministry is designing NES II and Action Plan for 2020-2025, a process which will be finalized later this year.

Cement manufacturing giant LafargeHolcim Malawi has taken the market by storm with the launch of Instacrete Ready Mix Concrete, which is the first commercial ready mix concrete to be introduced on the Malawi market.

Lafarge CEO Albert Sigei said at the launching ceremony of the Ready Mix Concrete at the Company’s Central Region offices in Kanengo, Lilongwe, that the new product will simplify the building process for contractors making it faster, better and safer as compared to the man mixing process.

Sigei said; “Building solutions around the world have been evolving; and the same needs to happen in Malawi. As a country with one of the highest urbanization rates in the world, it is expected that the demand for infrastructure development will be high.”

“Building solutions that provide faster and higher quality materials for the development of that infrastructure are, therefore, critical at the current stage of our country’s development.”

Instacrete Ready Mix Concrete will be produced by InstaCrete Limited, a subsidiary of Lafarge.

Lafarge also launched a concrete laboratory that will support InstaCrete through provision of technical services by ensuring that the concrete mix designs are innovative and tailored for different building projects.

“This laboratory has the capability to develop concrete mix designs, test aggregates and provide technical expertise for major concrete structural work. The laboratory is open to all customers that may wish to use these services,” he said.

Lafarge’s Head of Marketing and New Solutions ChikondiNg’ombe, urged building contractors to start using Instacrete Ready Mix Concrete saying it is far much better than the man mix process which on some occasions has resulted in the collapse of the structures due to poor mixing.

“It is difficult to control quality using the man mixing process as some mixer’s overdose on some materials,” she said.

Lafarge has only introduced the new product in Central Region but Ng’ombe said the Company has planned to introduce the Concrete in Northern and Southern Regions since there is rising demand for the product which shows that the market is ready for it.

“We have a readily available market for the product and we have already started supplying to some major Lilongwe construction works including Area 18 interchange,” said Ng’ombe.

Formerly Portland Cement Company, LafargeHolcim Malawi has been a leading building solutions provider in Malawi for over 60 years providing innovative building solutions serving masons, builders, architects and engineers.

Lafarge’s cement brands include Supaset (CEMII 42.5R), Duracrete (CEMII 32.5N), Kumanga (MC 22.5X), and Khoma (MC5).

The Company also produces SupaLime (hydrated lime) and, according to Ng’ombe, other innovative products are in the pipeline.

There are two to three types of wastes that are generated by mining activities. These are Waste Rock that is stored, secured in waste dumps and can be used as fill material, road construction and other infrastructure, Processed Rock commonly known as Tailings (containing chemicals) that is stored in construction facilities and where possible, these chemical solutions together with pulverised rock are    recycled in order to be used before being pumped into the storage facilities and also Mine Water which will not be discussed in this article.

1.            Mine Tailings

Mine tailings are finely grounded residual materials that remain after removing an ore of economic value from a process plant. Tailings is usually a by-product of mineral recovery processing and is mostly in form of liquid slurry made up of very fine particles from crushed, grounded, and processed with water and possess no any financial gain at the point of disposal. Tailings are processed from the mill and are diverted to storage built structures that are commonly referred to as Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF).

These storage facilities are in form of dams, embankments and other types of surface impoundments. It must also be noted that the material that goes to tailings facility might also contain significant amount of metal due to very poor recovery and that at some stage some mining companies may wish to reprocess to recover it, although this is not a common practice in most mine ore processing.

2.            Tailings Management

Tailings are usually stored using the most effective way inorder to meet specific regulations and standards. It must be noted that tailings structures are built in a differing fashion to suit a particular environment and specific mineral processing method. The ground conditions and   the environment are the most crucial parameters that control the storage of tailings hence geotechnical analysis at feasibility study is of very fundamental importance.In cases where    tailings do not contain substances that are harmful or toxic, water is sometimes diverted inorder to retain the physical stability of the facility by way of covering with soil, reshaping and planting vegetation cover and subsequently put into land use in the long term.

Tailings management is the primary responsibility of a mining company both during and after mining operations. Subject to advanced statutes, tailings management needs to be very cost effective throughout the mine life even beyond post closure period. Management of tailings include enhancement of mine workers on safety and health and also the nearby surrounding communities, developing new approaches for environmental protection, devising new ways of assisting the communities etc.

3.            Tailings Dam Failures

Tailings dam failures are caused by numerous factors among others the most occurred from past experience include:

(a) Unusual rainfall

? Too much rainfall leading to oversaturation thereby yielding rainwater that can overflow carrying with it the tailings away from the dam onto the downslopes.

(b) Foundations and Structure

?This can be caused by design errors, structural inadequacies and failed decantation. Also foundations with insufficient investigations that fail to guide enough support to the weight of the dams.

(c) Seismic liquefaction due to earth tremors/earthquakes

? Structure is destroyed by continuous shaking of the ground motion and since dams are designed to withstand such vibrations, there is instability created if the movement is larger than anticipated.

(d) Subsidence of the mine

? Sometimes the dam is built above an underground mine; the underground mine may collapse and the mine workings can absorb water and overflow when the subsidence is filled to capacity.

(e) Seepage and Erosion

? Due to rainfall, there may be erosion of the face of the dam that may be difficult to maintain or repair. Besides, erosion of dam/embankment materials due to seepage or underground drainage to areas that were designated as dry, may cause dam failure.

In all these causes of dam failures, the potential impacts is on biodiversity and associated ecosystems. These, in the long run cost companies massive financial compensations and also reconstructions projects to stabilize the dam structures.

4.            Examples of Tailings Dam failures for the past 5 years

Worldwide, there have been numerous catastrophic dam failures over the years. The most recently noted is the deadly dam burst due to mudslide at the Corrego do Feijao mine in Brazil operated by iron ore mining giant, Vale and happened in January, 2019. It is alleged that 13 Vale employees and a German Auditor TUV SUD are involved in a tussles where Brazilian Authorities are accusing them of fraud by presenting fake documentation backing the dams’ stability where about 250 people were nearly killed and mine waste tailings (about11.7 cubic metres) spilt all over to close by mining towns and the countryside below. It is also alleged that homicide and environmental damage case could not be ruled out. In another development, Vale has set aside $107 million for compensation and also projects to spend $471 million on dam stabilization projects by 2023.

On the same note, there have been tailings dam failures in Brazil like the Samarco iron ore dam failure mined by a giant BHP Billiton that killed 19 people, displacing 700 people and the Doce river valley was highly devastated and contaminated in 2015. This was considered the worst environmental disaster. Following this catastrophe, a lawsuit was served at Liverpool high court by a law firm SPG and over 200,000 Brazilians claimed damages of about $5 billion which was the largest in United Kingdom’s history.

In Canada, the Mount Polley gold and copper Mine run by Imperial Metals Corp collapsed in (2014) where toxic water from the mine tailings spilt over the Lake Polley. About 24 million cubic metres of tailings waste and sludge was deposited into nearby creeks causing an environmental concern and charges related to Fisheries Act were to be laid down under the Federal Law. These are but only a few examples of dam tailings failures and if these are not properly managed, they bring huge financial costs and implications to the mining company and great care should be exercised when operating these structures though some of the causes are natural in nature.

5.            Waste Rock

Waste rock is unwanted rock material that has been removed/excavated from the pit after mining and does not have a metal content of economic value. Waste rock is also a high volume of material that also may originate from chemical processing of metalliferous and non-metalliferous minerals by either opencast, adit and underground mining .The waste rock may however contain metal that is too way far below the cut off value. Usually the volume of mine waste is larger than the metallic ore and this mostly depends on the stripping ratio (ratio of waste to ore).  For example, a stripping ratio of 4:1 means that 4 tonnes of waste rock needs to be mined inorder to mine 1 tonne of ore. Generally, in open pit mines, the stripping ratio is on a higher side than in an underground mine for the obvious reasons and the waste rock is often stored close to the mine to minimize transports. The waste rock is deposited in stockpiles.

The amount of waste rock that needs to be removed from the pit depends on the rock geometry, location of the ore body along with the mining method used, the composition and stability of the rocks as well.

6.            Environmental impacts of waste rock

Mined waste covers a considerable area as such, issues of groundwater contamination are very common. In most mines, mining waste rock is also used as an earth road/work fill material and this can be a long term potential water contaminant.

However, when the rocks contain certain minerals in enough quantity combined with poor management of the waste, it can become a large risk to the environment and health of local communities. In some cases, the mine uses certain chemicals such as cyanide in the processing stage. These chemicals often account for a small volume of the total waste, but can pose a large risk due to their high toxicity.

In areas where coal mining takes place, the rock waste contains sulphurous compounds that are susceptible to Acid Rock Drainage formations. This causes both ground and surface water contaminations. Sulphide minerals are easily weathered when in contact with oxygen. When sulphide minerals break down, they can produce acid water. The acid water further speeds up the weathering of the minerals, called chemical weathering. The result is an acid water with high metal content. This is now referred to as acid rock drainage (ARD) or acid mine drainage (AMD).In terms of groundwater, the acid leachate affects water quality due to high concentrations of some elements in the saturated zones

7.            Managing Waste Rock

?            Included in the Environmental Management Plan.

?            Environmental audit and inspections are vital

?            Following relevant legislative guidelines on environment

?            Consider future landform uses e.g. during rehabilitation and post closure period.

?            Development of infrastructure e.g mine roads, landfills, buildings.

?            Erosion maintenance

Another Management is to adopt a risk-based management approach. The risk management process is based on Risk Assessments. The risk assessment identifies risk pathways (unwanted event and the associated environmental receptor/factor), which may cause material impact to key environmental factors. It also identifies the level of uncertainty associated with a risk pathway, which can be low, moderate or high depending on the degree of uncertainty.

The Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) will from September 8th to 10th host the 2019 African Hydro Symposium (AHS) at the newly built Sunbird Mount Soche Hotel’s SocheInternational Conference Centre in Blantyre.

The theme for this year’s symposium, which is the 29th, is “Quality Power for Sustainable Development in Africa.

Senior Public Relations Officer for EGENCO Moses Gwaza says in a Press Statement that EGENCO is currently inviting various organizations and individuals in the country to participate in the symposium which is a beneficial platform for sharing vital information with foreign hydro energy experts.

“The symposium which is held annually, is a regional forum where hydro power plant operating experts              representing various electricity utilities and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in Africa, meet to share experiences and deliberate on developments, operations, maintenance and management of hydro power plants in the continent,” Gwaza explains.

He says the meeting will attract approximately 150 delegates from power utilities across Africa and some international stakeholders from various energy sectors, equipment manufacturers and suppliers from Europe, Asia and America.

Gwaza says the hosting of the great conference is a collaboration of both EGENCO and the Secretariat of the African Hydro Symposium based at Kafue Gorge Regional Training Centre in Zambia.

He urges organizations wishing to participate as joint sponsors and organizations in the power and related industries to register their individual employees as delegates to attend the symposium.

Meanwhile, various companies and organizations in the country have come up to provide financial assistance to the event.

The companies include the NICO Group which donated K4.5-million to the power utility for the event, which will explore strategies to develop the energy sector for economic growth.

EGENCO CEO William Liabunya thanked NICO for the support saying it manifests that the insurance company is a good corporate citizen who want to help EGENCO overcome the country’s power     generation woes.

The symposium will provide a room for sharing of viable ideas to move Africa’s electricity access from an average of 30 to 35%.

EGENCO was founded in 2017 as an electricity generation utility after the unbundling of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) into two entities with Escom responsible for power transmission and distribution.

The company, which recently launched its strategic plan, has planned a number of power generation projects including the construction of Mpatamanga hydro plant on Shire River.

EGENCO is seeking financing to execute the US$473-miillion project which will be supplying 309 MW to the national power grid.

German Consulting firm, Fichtner GmbH and CO KG, already conducted a feasibility study for the project with funding from the World Bank as part of the Energy Sector Support Project.

Besides Mpatamanga project, EGENCO is also sourcing funds for three other generation projects including the 138MW Kholombidzo Hydroelectric Power Plant which will be constructed on the Shire River upstream of Zalewa Bridge.

The US$511.5-million plant to be constructed over a period of 5.5 years will be uppermost in the cascade of the hydro-plants in the river.

Egenco is also planning to construct the 180MW Songwe Hydropower Plant on Songwe River through        cooperation between the Governments of Malawi and Tanzania.

The utility is also working on the expansion of Wvowe Mini Hydropower Scheme to add 4.5MW to the power grid.

EGENCO also plans to install a solar PV plant close to a load center at Nanjoka in Salima to maximize benefits to the national grid and satisfy the afternoon peak demand. The project scopes installation of a 20MW solar power plant to increase the generation capacity and introduce a diverse power mix in the generation system.

Trash interruption is the one of the contributing factors hindering power generation in the country so EGENCO is also conducting trash river diversion projects in many power stations on the Shire River.

In September 2017, the company commenced an 18 months project of dredging and diverting a tributary that was depositing a lot of slit at the Tedzani intake pond, a project that consumed about MK5-billion.

With funding from the US government energy compact through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, in January 2019 EGENCO acquired a brand new dredger for Kapichira power station to remove silt which covered over 70% of the generating dam.

Siltation lowers the water levels in the dams making it difficult to generate electricity matching the demand.

Currently the country has 406.6MW installed generation capacity but only 335.15MW is available to cater for 18.63 million people.

The utility’s hydro-power plants include Nkula A and B, Kapichira I and II, Tedzani I, II and III and Wovwe. 

EGENCO is also planning to construct a coal fired power plant as one way of diversifying the power sources.

The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) has established a new Installer’s Permit Committee (IPCO) and mini-grid egulatory framework which it has described as a vital tool in preventing accidents that occur due to poor electrical installation.

Board Chairperson for MERA KhwauliMsiska said at a sensitization workshop for the new framework in             Lilongwe that the revised electrical installation assessment framework recognises that installers are usually good at specific installations that need to be certified for the safety of the installed buildings.

He said in the old framework experience was missing as criteria for certifying installers but the new framework will be considering both experience and qualification as chances for upgrading and certification of the installers.

“In order to reduce incidences in form of fire, electrocution and equipment damage, those doing                installations need to be only those that have the right qualifications and experience,” Msiska said.

He urged all the electrical installers to acquire permits from MERA observing that many electrical installers in the country are operating without possession of valid permits which is putting people’s properties at high risk of catching electric fire.

Msiska also expressed concern over the existence of a number of mini-grids developed by both Government and non-governmental organizations which have been handed over to communities, without relevant training, on management, operation and maintenance.

 “You can agree with me that mostly ownership and organizational structures of the mini-grids are not clear and accountability and transparency procedures are not clearly defined, which presents challenges for authority institutions to manage supporting and regulatory structures,” he said.

Msiska said the new framework for mini-grids intends to achieve sustainable development and operation of the mini-grids in Malawi in strides towards providing modern energy to remote areas where grid extension does not offer an economically feasible extension solution.

He said MERA recognizes the significance of engaging Government and stakeholders in ensuring effective regulation of the energy sector and understanding on matters relating to the regulation of the mini-grids.

Msiska thanked United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country office for financial support towards the development of the mini-grid framework.

“The preparation of the regulatory framework for mini-grids in Malawi was a commitment and devotion   from many stakeholders of whom we are highly grateful for their valuable contributions,” Msiska said.

Commenting on the development, an electrical contractor PempheroNazombe lauded the new framework saying it will assist experienced electrical engineers in upgrading their licenses.

“This workshop is important as the new permit has included experience as one of the aspects for one to upgrade while the past permit only centered on qualifications like university degrees leaving out the experience that one has,” Nazombe said.

He said the development will also assist in marketing brands of certified installers since organizations will be considering legal permits before deploying the contractor.

Nazombe pleaded with fellow electrical contractors to comply with the framework in so doing assist in preventing people’s properties from electrical accidents.

MERA is mandated to regulate the energy sector in Malawi in a fair, transparent, efficient and cost effective manner for the benefit of the consumers and operators.

The Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) says it is exploring alternative power sources to supplement power that it currently generates from hydro-plants.

EGENCO CEO William Liabunya said in an interview at the launching ceremony of the Company’s 15 years strategic plan in Blantyre that EGENCO wants to have diverse sources of power in order to do away with load-shedding due to unsteady supply of power as the hydro sources are prone to climate change related problems including diminishing water levels in the Shire River.

Liabunya said: “There are a lot of avenues which EGENCO is exploring to boost electricity generation and one of them is diversification.”

 “We strongly believe it is time to diversify to other sources of power because as you are aware 90 % of the electricity being generated is hydro-electric power.”

“The biggest challenge we have is that each time the water level goes down, electricity generation is affected and in-turn power supply is affected. We, therefore, need to find alternative sources that are sufficient and reliable.”

Board Chairperson for Egenco Lloyd Muhara told Mining & Trade Review at the same function that as stated in its strategic plan, EGENCO will explore and promote the use of clean energy in order to deal with the problem of deforestation due to excessive use of biomass as a source of energy.

“We want to start generating reliable and diversified power by investing in new power plants in a sustainable manner,” he said.

In the plan, EGENCO has set an ambitious target of increasing its installed electricity generation capacity from 367.37 to 1,687.5 MW by 2033 and overcome the country’s electricity woes in 14 years. The strategic plan is for 2018 to 2033.

Meanwhile, the Economic Association of Malawi (ECAMA) has asked the Malawi Government to increase funding to the energy sector starting from the next budget in order for EGENCO and Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) to achieve their plans of ensuring stable and adequate supply of electricity.

ECAMA president, Chikumbutso Kalilombe made the statement during a pre-budget consultation meeting which was organized by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development in Lilongwe and was presided over by Minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamveka.

Kalilombe said EGENCO’s ambitious plan to increase power generation will only be fully implemented with adequate funding.

“It is high time government invested directly into power production. Even if we do not sort out all woes now, we will have started,” he said.

He also said the government needs to be aggressive in its campaign to attract investors in power generation by speeding up the ongoing policy changes to accommodate independent power producers.

Malawi’s electricity demand is expected to grow to 600 MW in 2018, 950 MW in 2020, and 1,200 MW in 2025.

The energy sector spending as a percentage of GDP remained below one percent between years of 2016/17 and 2018/19, and is projected to average around one percent by 2030.

Though only less than 12% of the Malawi population is connected to the electricity grid, blackouts are the order of the day as Escom conducts a load shedding programme to ration power supply especially in dry season when water levels are low in Lake Malawi and the Shire River.

Various studies have identified lack of reliable power as the main factor hindering investment in major economic sectors including mining and manufacturing.

Egenco, which was born from the unbundling of Escom into two entities in order to enhance efficiency in the power sector, started its operations in 2017.

Since its formation, the Company has been active in carrying out maintenance and expansion of power plants including the Nkula A which has been modernized with funding from US’s Millennium Challenge Corporation.

EGENCO is also constructing Tedzani IV with funding from the Japanese Government and has planned a number of generation projects including the setting up of a coal fired power plant to generate 300MW.