As a result the northern region is currently consuming poor quality electricity, and is suffering constant power cuts.
Briefing Nampula provincial governor Cidalia Chauque on the situation, the provincial director of mineral resources and energy, Moises Paulino, warned that all that could be done immediately was to minimize the damage.
“The capacity of the centre-north line to supply electricity has reached its limit”, he said. “What is being done right now is to try and reduce the effects of exhausting its capacity, such as poor quality and constant oscillations and cuts in supply”. These measures included installing new transformer posts in various parts of Nampula province.
What is most worrying, added Paulino, is that a large number of major economic undertakings are on the drawing board for the Nacala Special Economic Zone, on the Nampula coast. All will need a reliable supply of electricity which the centre-north line is no longer able to provide.
One practical solution is to build a second centre-north line, to Nampula and Nacala. The route has not yet been decided. The new line could start at the Caia sub-station, in Sofala province on the south bank of the Zambezi, or it could begin much further west in Tete.
Chauque lamented that matters are made worse by deliberate sabotage. Thieves steal electricity cables and metallic parts from pylons, adding to the costs faced by the electricity company, EDM.
Post published in: Africa News