By Pemphero Malimba:
The Ministry of Energy has said procurement hurdles and forex scarcity are some of the major factors affecting the country’s goals of achieving 1,000 megawatts by 2025 and 50 percent electricity accessibility across the country by 2030.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry Alfonso Chikuni said this in Lilongwe Wednesday when Minister of Mining Monica Chang’anamuno was opening the Second Energy and Agri- Energy Delivery Labs organised by the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU).
Chikuni said the vices are affecting implementation of some projects in the energy sector.
He however expressed optimism that the country would achieve electricity goals as current statistics indicate 27 percent electricity accessibility across the country.
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“The current estimates put us at 27 percent. So 50 percent is not a difficult obstacle to beat. It basically requires us to make about 250,000 connections per year by 2030 so if we plan well we should be able to achieve 50 percent,” he said.
He disclosed that they have enhanced measures towards energy generation, transmission and distribution.
Chang’anamuno said improvements in the energy sector are crucial as various sectors require enough energy needs, with the mining sector alone in need of 230 megawatts.
“In most projects that we have, investors are saying that they cannot be able to do more because we are not providing enough energy and therefore the labs are very important for us to think outside the box on how we can produce more to help in areas of industrialization and job creation,” she said.
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PDU head Janet Banda, who is Deputy Secretary to the President and Cabinet, said the labs are crucial as they will help to reflect challenges and find lasting solutions in the implementation of flagship projects across the country.
“We want to find challenges and from a multi stakeholder approach see how we can resolve the challenges and move forward as a nation,” Banda said.
Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) Country Lead Collen Zalengera, whose organisation is supporting the labs, said they are hopeful that the labs will unlock progress in the energy sector and help in transforming the lives of Malawians.
GEAPP is supporting PDU in unlocking energy and agriculture energy projects through facilitation of problem solving meetings and delivery labs that remove bottlenecks to projects.
The labs, which were lastly done in 2022, will be conducted up to March 11, 2024.
