ZAMBIA, Tanzania and Kenya will soon enjoy reduced electricity costs following the envisaged completion of the ZTK interconnection power project.
Three energy ministers from Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya signed a Cooperation Agreement in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, binding their respective countries to the implementation of the power project which will also see many rural people accessing electricity.
The project will also attract investors. Addressing power utility delegates from the three nations, the Tanzanian Minister for Energy and Minerals, Prof Sospeter Muhongo said Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya will each solicit funding and implement the project infrastructure in each respective country that will be linked at the border.
He added that the three countries have enough resources to produce enough power for local consumption and sell the surplus to other African nations, connecting the North and the South Power Pool.
“We want to see power transmission connecting Cape Town and Cairo for the economic and social prosperity of our continent. This will reduce poverty once more people in rural areas access power and attract more investment to the continent,” he said. He added that currently 75 per cent of Africa has no power.
The minister said that Zambia has enough resources to generate power from coal, while Kenya has already started generating power from geothermal sources and coal, while Tanzania has coal and natural gas.
“With all these resources at our disposal the three nations can produce enough electricity for local consumption and sell the surplus to other African nations,” he said.
He added that the projects will be completed by 2016. He said the ZTK interconnection project will cost between 400 million US dollars and 500 million.
The Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum, Mr Davis Chirchir, underscored the need for the three nations to work quickly to ensure timely completion of the project to connect the Eastern and Southern Power Pool all the way to Cairo.
“Unless we start trading with one another, we cannot reach out to other markets,” he explained, stressing that the Kenyan government is fully committed to the ZTK power interconnection project.
The Zambian Minister for Mines, Energy and Water Development, Mr Christopher Yaluma, said the three nations have procrastinated for too long, calling on theeach country to show commitment to the project. “This is unusual business. We need to get committed if we are going to achieve anything.
This project will not only bring benefits in trade, but also a boom in investment for our region,” he added. Funding Institution present, including African Development Bank (AfDB) and World Bank (WB) and Donor countries including Norway, Japan, France and the European Union have expressed their continued support.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) Country Representative, Ms Tonia Kandiero, said her bank together with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is funding the Kenyan-Tanzania interconnection as a multi-nation project at an estimated cost of US 271.54 million dollars, split between the countries.
She said that Kenya will receive 50.52 million US dollars and the remaining 221.02 million US dollars will go to Tanzania. “We are also following up the 400kV Mbeya-Iringa transmission line as a national project and also the Zambia-Tanzania interconnector for funding purposes,” she added.
