- The Panjane administrative post in Magude district, Maputo province, became linked to the Mozambican national electricity grid on Wednesday, as part of the government’s efforts to electrify all administrative posts by 2024.
Construction work took a year and consisted of building 33 kilometres of medium voltage power line, and four kilometres of low voltage power network. There are also two 100 kVA transformer posts with the capacity for 100 new connections. The cost is put at 62 million meticais (about 970,000 US dollars, at the current exchange rate).
Panjane administrative post is 45 kilometres from Magude town, and consists of two localities, Chivongoenine and Chimbongoene, with a total population of 2,750. The immediate gains from the connection to the national grid are the electrification of Panjane Complete Primary School, the local health centre, the water supply system, and administrative residences as well as public lighting in the streets.
Implemented by the publicly-owned electricity company, EDM, the construction created 35 jobs, 25 of them for local people. Currently activities are under way to connect new consumers to the system, under the government’s “Energy for All” programme.
During the inauguration ceremony, the Secretary of State for Maputo province, Vitoria Diogo, assured the population of Magude district, that they will all have access to electricity by 2024, under the universal access to energy plans of the government.
“All the Magude administrative posts will be linked to the electricity grid by 2024”, she pledged. “President Filipe Nyusi does not sleep, he is committed to finding solutions for the welfare of the public, and he is banking on the electrification of the country”.
She added that work has already begun to electrify, by the end of the year, the Mapulanguene administrative post, which is 110 kilometres from Magude town.
The programme to electrify all administrative posts was launched in 2020. So far, 33 administrative posts have been covered, 26 through the national grid and seven through isolated systems.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
