Government has disclosed that two more years are needed before commencing the power tapping process from Mozambique after a decision made by the two countries to redesign the power tapping mode.
Lilongwe and Maputo respectively have identified recently, two new consultants to conduct a fresh assessment on the feasibility and social impact of the proposed interconnection project.
Ben Botolo, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, said in an interview that it would take one more year to come up with wholly new design for the inter-connector before commencing the groundwork the following year.
“The project is moving, we identified a German contractor to do a feasibility study,” said Botolo.
He reiterated that the two governments agreed to change power lines capacity from the earlier 220 Kilo volts to 400 Kilo volts as a means of maximizing the amount of power tapped.
According to Botolo, points of power tapping and entry have also changed.
“With that we needed to do the redesigning which may take one year and after than another one year would be required to do the actual construction,” said Botolo. The World Bank is funding the project.
According to Botolo, changes of the energy tapping capacity were done in consideration with the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) power upgrade project in the country.
A feasibility study done some years ago on the inter-connector concluded that with an investment of US $ 32 million, it would have been possible to interconnect Malawi and Mozambique.
The value and power tapping capacity will, however, be revised upwards following the recent option by the two governments to have the project redesigned.
