Malawi Rural Electrification Program phase 9 on the cards, says Minister Kambala

Energy minister Newton Kambala said the government will soon be implementing phase 9 of Malawi Rural Electrification Program (Marep) to light up the whole country.

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Kambala was responding a question from back-benchers in parliament.

He told the House that the government is doing a survey on the implementation of the Marep phase 9 and the rolling out should start after the exercise.

“Currently, engineers are conducting surveys in various areas where phase 9 is supposed to be implemented.

“Furthermore, the government received bids last year, which is one of the processes of procuring materials for the program. So, once the materials have been delivered, the exercise will begin at once,” he said.

Members of parliament wanted to find out when the project shall commence.

The project is aimed at increasing access to electricity to people in peri-urban and rural areas and phase 9 of the project was expected to start in October 2020.

According to Kambala, currently government is doing a survey  on the implementation of the project and evaluating tenders from interested suppliers before commencing the programme.

Kambala also expressed hope that implementation of MAREP Phase 9 will relatively go smooth following calmness in the country’s political atmosphere.

“In the past two years, we have had hiccups and the implementation has not gone according to plan because of change of government but normalcy is slowly coming,” he said.

The upcoming program will cost in excess of K20 billion which will come from the Rural Electrification Fund (REF) as the main source.

Marep was an initiative introduced during the United Democratic Front (UDF) administration.

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Mwini muzi
Mwini muzi
3 years ago

This is good though access to rural areas depends on roads. After installation, ESCOM hardly go for maintenance in the rainy season as many of the roads become impassable by vehicles. Government consider this aswell.

Psyuta
3 years ago

Yes we need electricity in our villages. APM did a great job on rural electrification. Please continue with the DPP’s Development agenda.

3in1
3in1
3 years ago

Let’s light up Malawi, electricity for all in the 21st century should be a reality.

Aniva wa ufisi
Aniva wa ufisi
3 years ago

Pano tili pa Phase 9, so Phase 1 to 8 tapangapo chani?

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