- The Citizen Tanzania reports that the construction of the Tanzania Zambia transmission line will begin in January 2023.
- The Coordinator of the Tanzania-Zambia Project (Taza), Mr Elias Makunga, confirmed that the Sh1.4 trillion project, which involves construction of a 400 kilowatt line, will be completed in January 2025.
- He was speaking after a meeting in Dar with Tanzania’s energy minister, January Makamba last week.
The project will be constructed from Iringa Region and end in Sumbawanga, covering a distance of 616 kilometres. It will also involve the construction of four new power stations. The government will find contractors for the project in December and that the number of bidders has so far reached 24.
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“Taza will strengthen access to electricity in Iringa, Njombe and Mbeya. It will also feed electricity into the national grid in Songwe and Rukwa. That way, we will be implementing the government’s overall goal of strengthening Tanzanians’ access to this energy,” said Mr Makunga.
He said the project will enable Tanzania to connect with member countries of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) through Zambia and Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) through Kenya and become a centre for electricity trade for member countries of the EAPP & SAPP. “Tanzania should sell electricity to SAPP & EAPP member countries when there is a power surplus or buy electricity if the demand is greater than what is produced in the country,” he said.
According to Mr Makunga, the funds have been obtained from the World Bank (WB), the French Development Agency, the European Union and the Government of Tanzania.
He said the project is divided into eight parts, including four for transmitting electricity and the rest for constructing power cooling stations.
For his part, the minister said the project aims to exchange and sell electricity to each other, noting that Tanzania can benefit from selling the energy to South Africa or Botswana. “Tanzania is the link between the PAP of East Africa and the south, that’s why this project has a unique importance. Our nation is in a great advantage to be a link of electricity trade in the East African region.
“This move will give us the opportunity to generate more electricity than our demand because there is a reliable market for this energy.
“It is an important project, we are grateful that it has become successful now and we have a good relationship with my Zambian counterpart,” said Mr Makamba.
Edited by GBA News Desk
Source: The Citizen Tanzania
