Blantyre, January 19: Vice President Saulosi Chilima says environmental degradation has played a big role to the closure of Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom)‘s Nkula A and B power generation plant which is due to increased amounts of debris and silt collected in its machines.
Chilima said this at Nkula Falls power station on Saturday during the repair works visit the vice president made to the site.
The Vice president said from what he had seen after touring the place, there was an extensive damage that was caused by floods saying the challenge should be looked at from the environmental perspective.
“From what I have seen, tree planting has to be intensified in this country because all these are happening as a result of environmental degradation.
“We have to plant more trees since they protect soil erosion which has resulted to debris and siltation here at Nkula power station.
“With this, government is looking at long term plans that can prevent debris and siltation in future,” said Chilima adding that government would continue to support ESCOM to ensure that its operations are going on smoothly.
Chilima however commended ESCOM officials for making sure that their services are back to normal.
He said due to the damage, ESCOM was left with 90 megawatts only but in just few days it has managed to increase the megawatts to 227 and that by next week 24 more megawatts will be added.
He further said by January 28, 2014, ESCOM will regain all its 351 megawatts since there are 100 more megawatts to be restored.
Due to the rains, some parts of Blantyre, for instance, have not had electricity, some up to two days, due to damage to Escom transformers and transmission lines by the rainstorm and floods that have pounded many parts of the country in the past few days.
Escom Public Relations Officer, Kitty Chingota, told the media that the electricity supplier is still counting the cost of the floods, rainstorms to establish the full extent of the destruction to its property.
“As of now I cannot tell the amount of damages caused by the rains and floods because we have to make an assessment from Nsanje to Chitipa to know the damages. What I can say [is that] 20 poles have been damaged but by the end of day more cases will be reported because we have not yet come to the end of the rainy season,’’ she said.
