World Bank believes Mozambique can become “electricity hub”

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World Bank believes Mozambique can become “electricity hub”

7:53 CAT | 21 Jul 2025

Photo: Notícias

The president of the World Bank group, Ajay Banda, on Saturday said he believes that, within the next ten years, Mozambique will become an electricity hub or southern Africa.

He was speaking after a visit to the Cahora Bassa dam, on the Zambezi river, in the central province of Tete. The visit included an overflight, allowing the World Bank delegation to see Cahora Bassa from the air, and the site where a second dam will be built on the Zambezi, at Mphanda Nkuwa, 60 kilometres downstream from Cahora Bassa.

Banda told reporters that the World Bank will work with the Mozambican government to identify other forms of empowering the country. He said Mozambican President Daniel Chapo is committed to implementing the country’s various energy projects and thus turning Mozambique into an “energy power in southern Africa”.

“I think this is a real opportunity”, said Banda. “It is something we should work on jointly, not only with public money, but also with public-private partnerships”.

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As for the project to build a second power station at Cahora Bassa, on the north bank of the river, Banda believed that this could go ahead with World Bank support. Designing such a project was like an orchestra.

“You have to play many musical instruments to create harmony”, he said. “I think this is the partnership we are discussing”.

The northern bank power station would have the capacity to generate 1,250 megawatts of power. Construction could begin in 2028 and last for five years. But the plans have been on the drawing board for decades. The reason it has not been built is the reluctance of the South African electricity company, Eskom, to commit to buying the electricity that the power station will produce. Eskom is the only likely purchaser in the region for such large amounts of power.

Banda said that energy is not the only sector of the Mozambican economy that the World Bank, is interested in financing, but it is the priority one.

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