Minister Matola says Chakwera govt eyes 50% electricity access by 2030

Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola has disclosed government plans to increase a total electricity access rate of 50 percent by 2030 from the current 12 percent.

Matola stated that the President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera’s administration is determined to ensure that energy access is affordable, reliable, sustainable, efficient and modern for every person in the country by 2030 in line with aspirations of the Sustainable Development Goal Number 7.

The made the remarks in Lilongwe on Friday at the launch of the Malawi Electricity Access Project (MEAP) – a World Bank-funded project that is being implemented by Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) and the Ministry of Energy.

ESCOM is implementing the first component, which targets connecting 180, 000 customers on grid while the Ministry of Energy is implementing the second component, which targets connecting off grid customers.

Matola said the launch of the ESCOM component will result in massive rollout grid connections to households, public facilities, industries, and low-income households through use of ready boards.

Minister Matola–Dr. Chakwera’s vision is to transform lives by ensuring access to basic utilities and infrastructure–Photo by Watipaso Mzungu

“It is the vision of President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera and his government to transform the lives of every Malawian by ensuring access to basic utilities and infrastructure, roads, water, electricity, education, among others. MEAP will, therefore, contribute towards achieving the goals of the National Energy Policy, Sustainable Development Goal Number 7 and the vision of the Government of Malawi,” he said.

“It is for this reason that the government initiated a project that would request for financing under a loan facility from the World Bank to accelerate connections and contribute towards increasing access to electricity – and this resulted in the MEAP Project we are launching today. The project addresses some of the deliverables in the government’s connections guideline such as incentivizing the low-income households through soft loan facility for connection, and provision of ready boards for low-cost installations,” he added.

The minister expressed sadness that for too long, Malawians have been deprived of having access to electricity because of the poor decisions the previous administrations made.

Matola cited the collection of application fees by ESCOM without connecting them to the grid as one of the violations of the citizens’ right to the service.

He assured that the current government would not leave anyone behind in energy access.

“Through the commitment of this government to leave no-one behind, Malawians can now enjoy and share the benefits of this important service. My only plea is that we should all guard against theft and vandalism of equipment installed under the project as failure to do so will deter social and economic development that everybody is looking for as provided in the Malawi 2063 vision. All of us will be part of ESCOM’s success story if only we can provide them the much-needed support. Imagine how frustrating it would be, witnessing ESCOM’s infrastructure being stolen and vandalized despite the rigorous efforts of connecting customers,” emphasized Matola.

Kumwenda–ESCOM will continue putting in place enabling and sustainable policies and frameworks to build a modern, resilient, and dynamic infrastructure–Photo by Watipaso Mzungu

ESCOM Chief Executive Officer Kamkwamba Kumwenda said the corporation will continue to put in place enabling and sustainable policies and frameworks to build a modern, resilient, and dynamic infrastructure. We envisage that more customers must be connected to the grid as Malawi strives to bring power to every customer on the electricity grid.

Kumwenda acknowledged that access to electricity is now a right for all people as it is central to achieving their development goals, including those related to getting rid of poverty, improving health and for gender equality.

“An investment of around $100 Million as made for the grid extension and house wiring project. It will provide affordable connection to 10,000 Households of the less privileged, by use of pre – wired ready boards,” he said.

He thanked all the households that have patiently waited for their turn to get connected.

But Kumwenda was quick to warn unscrupulous people against taking advantage to connect customers not on the waiting list and in exchange, get bribes from the customers.

“Let me warn you, especially our own employees in ESCOM, that whoever is reported to indulge in this malpractice and if proven beyond doubt, they will be dismissed and face criminal charges. I urge customers to report any strange advances by our officers and desist from corrupt practices. Let deserving Malawians who have waited for long justifiably get connected to the electricity grid,” he emphasized.

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Big Bennie
Big Bennie
1 year ago

Vision of the blind 🐕 (dog).

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Stanley Mdala
Stanley Mdala
1 year ago

Matola is the crying and useless cabinet minister who called Malawians achule. He is one of stupidest stooge of inept Chakwera. He say any outlandish claims of bringing electricity to thatched houses before even cities and towns have been installed with electricity. This stupid Matola must be smoking very strong bang.
Malawi electricity coverage is barely minimal country wide maybe 5 to 6% of the country. With perpetual blackouts and loadsheading its a farfetched dream for silly Matola to predict such unachievable target by his poor government led by clueless Chakwera and MCP criminals.

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