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DAM-L Malawi hydro/LS (fwd)
----- Forwarded message from Lori Pottinger -----
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
Subject: Malawi hydro/LS
Sender: owner-irn-safrica@netvista.net
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Malawi switches on to controversial hydro-power project
( September 30, 2000 )
BLANTYRE, Sept 30 (AFP) - Malawi on Saturday officially switched on the new
but controversial 64 megawatts hydro-power project, bringing the country's
total power output to 234 megawatts.
The much-delayed 130 million dollar Kapichira hydro-project was declared
open by President Bakili Muluzi.
"The launching of the project was beset by a number of problems," Lameck
Ntchembe, project officer for Electricity supply commission of Malawi
(ESCOM), said.
Work had been halted in 1992 after donors withdrew all aid to Malawi to put
pressure on the regime of former dictator Kamuzu Banda into implementing
human rights and democratic reforms.
The project was also delayed because the African Development Bank pulled out
of co-financing civil works, Ntchembe said.
The International Development Association (IDA), an affliate of the World
Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Commonwealth Development Corporation
(CDC) and German and Netherlands technical agencies co-financed the project.
The Kapichira project is the fifth on the Shire river, which flows from the
vast Lake Malawi--the third largest in Africa.
Malawi, whose power supplies have in the past been hit by drought, is
negotiating to buy 50 megawatts from Mozambique's Cahora Bassa
hydro-electric plant.
The project will cost 40 million dollars, which is being sought from donors.
The power will be tapped from Mozambique's central Tete province and
transmitted 210 kilometres (125 miles) to Blantyre, Malawi's commercial
capital.
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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