LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawians say they are still facing power problem despite claims by the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) that the commissioning of the diesel generators will helped to reduce hours of blackouts.
The 55 megawatts (MW) generators was commissioned on Wednesday in Blantyre by President Peter Mutharika.
During the day ESCOM claimed the generators will reduce load shedding in the country by six hours.
The development excited many Malawians especially because they were experiencing 25 hours of blackouts in most times.
Speaking in the social media, Malawians have complained of continued long hours of blackouts, wondering why ESCOM insist the hours of blackouts have been reduced.
“This is what we are experiencing; we have not seen any change despite the ESCOM claims that change was coming with commissioning of the gensets,” said one frustrated Blantyre resident.
A barber shop owner in Lilongwe’s Area 25 B said they continue to experience the usual prolonged blackouts.
However, ESCOM acting public relations manager George Mituka, in an interview yesterday, insisted that load shedding hours were immediately reduced to six hours,—from eight hours—after the commissioning of the generators in Blantyre.
“We have divided the load shedding groups into four, nationwide. If an area is switched off, say at 5am, they should expect to have power back after six hours [in this example, 11am].
“We are going to put the new load shedding schedule in the newspapers from Monday or thereabout. The new schedule was effective February 2 [last Friday],” he said.
Mituka dismissed claims by some residents that there were no changes after the generators were commissioned, arguing that the prolonged blackouts could be for other reasons; hence the people must report to their faults departments.
Mutharika during the commissioning of the generators said within five years as a long term solution, Malawi would be able to generate 1 400 MW of coal-fired power and about 700 MW of solar energy.
The President said Malawi will also connect to the Southern African Development Commission (SADC) region power pool to enable the nation to purchase power from other countries when need arise.
Mutharika also justified the involvement of Aggreko plc that is supplying the generators in the power venture, saying it is part of attracting foreign investments