Engage citizens on power outage solutions- NGO
Executive Director for the Environmental and Educational Resources Development Trust (CCRDT) Olgha Saidi has called on government to engage Malawians for solutions aimed at resolving challenges the country is facing including the massive power outages.
Speaking of how the current power cuts have affected various businesses and individuals, Saidi said the nation has people who can help with ideas on effective Hydro-electric power generation, solar energy and windmill electricity production.
She also indicated that there is need to explore modern technologies that will help conserve water in the Shire River particularly at Nkula Falls to avoid reduction of generation capacity due to low water levels.
“There are a lot of Malawians with brilliant ideas but we are used to depending too much on ideas from people who do not even know our problems. The generators they are buying are temporary and the electricity interconnection programme they are talking about cannot be relied upon,” she said.
She bemoaned that as an organisation that empowers the youth and women to be self-reliant, they are greatly affected by the persistent power blackouts.
The nation is facing blackouts with both the Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) and the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) attributing the problem to low water levels in Lake Malawi and its sole outlet Shire River.
Egenco chief executive officer William Liabunya recently said the current prolonged blackouts will end in March next year when all diesel-powered generators, expected to generate 46 megawatts (MW), will have been commissioned.
Malawi has an installed capacity for electricity of 351MW, but of late it has fallen to 145MW, which is said to have led to the current power crisis.
Am 100percent sure that Malawi have brilliant people who can solve this what we can call A LEGEND OF OUR PROBLEM. I visited china, there was aproblem where by the Chinese were creating problem to india that made them rich..chinese blocked big rivers that goes into india they created big reservoirs along the rivers, now when they open all these reservoirs there were chaos in India floods… now malawi we have lake malawi from northern to southern. Then shire river are you sure boma kukanika ku kumba shire from its mouth kuti ukhale ndi madzi mtsinjewu… now ma generator its true they’re temporary are you telling Malawians boma lukanika kubweretsa magetsi…? Pamene billions of kwacha are being siphoned from gvt departments some without trace am not a minister or manager… but I can be able to negotiate with the British government Irish gvt Denmark, Korea even Swedish…I dont understand what ministers do.. we cant blame too much on ESCOM Boses them they are scared this is politics. How on earth azimakugona pa fumbi choncho mumdima this is poverty.. tidzimva chisoni abale this is tooo much