PPPC facilitates energy, irrigation projects
Public Private Partnership Commission (PPPC) says it is facilitating public private partnerships (PPPs) in energy and irrigation projects to ease power shortages and improve the economy’s resilience to climatic shocks.
PPPC director of project finance and risk analysis Audrey Mwala said at a news conference in Blantyre on Tuesday that the commission is working with the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining on 350 megawatts (MW) Mpatamanga Hydro Power Project to raise energy production in Malawi.
She said the project will assist the Malawi Government meet future power demand and improve performance of existing power systems through the use of a storage reservoir to “support peaking operation”.
The power plant is also expected to reduce the sediment inflow into the Kapichira reservoir; hence, improve the efficiency of power generation at the plant and prolong the reservoir’s lifespan.
Said Mwala: “Government, through the Ministry of Finance, approved the project soon after we presented the findings of the feasibility study to them.”
PPPC has also partnered government to improve irrigation through the Shire Valley Transformation Programme.
The project is jointly funded by the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
The two projects have the potential to improve productivity in the economy.
According to the World Bank, intermittent power generation between 2017 and 2019 has slowed economic growth.
