PPPC progresses on Mpatamanga project

Public Private Partnership Commission (PPPC) says the next phase of negotiations on the 350 megawats (MW) $1.1 billion (about K905 billion) Mpatamanga Hydro Power Project will be concluded next month.

In an interview last week, PPPC chief executive officer Patrick Kabambe said they are now in the process of negotiating the agreement with the investors.

He said: “We need to understand that a project of this magnitude and highly technical needs very detailed scrutiny so that both parties are sure that it’s a win-win solution”.

“We, therefore, needed input from specialists such as engineers, lawyers, finance specialists to comb through all the documents. We had a good team of advisers on our side and we are confident that it is going to be a success.”

Kabambe said apart from sorting out the energy challenges, the project will boost investor confidence and open up Malawi to other investment opportunities.

Earlier, PPPC said it had shortlisted two international energy firms, SN Power Invest of The Netherlands and Electricite De France SA of France, to work as a consortium for the project expected to be completed in the next four years.

The Mpatamanga Hydro Power Project consists of two hydro-power plants, a main power plant and a main dam reservoir with daily storage capacity capable of generating 309MW of electricity on a peaking basis.

There is also a regulating dam with a hydro-power plant capable of generating 41MW of base load electricity, downstream from the main reservoir and power plant.

The project is a national priority which seeks to address the country’s severe power deficit and reliability issues.

Malawi is struggling to produce adequate power, with only 10 percent of the country’s 18.5 million people having access to electricity, according to the Malawi Sustainable Energy Investments Report.

President Lazarus Chakwera is on record as having called on various stakeholders in the energy sector to collaborate in overcoming challenges in three projects that aim at increasing people’s access to electricity.

A recent World Bank study on how to invite private interest in power sector investments in the Sub- Saharan Africa region revealed that Malawi has substantial power sector reforms and ranked the country among those ready for private investment.