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The Maputo Operational Area of Mozambique’s publicly-owned electricity company, EDM, suffered losses in 2016 of about 600 million meticais (about 8.5 million US dollars, at current exchange rates) due to vandalism and the theft of electricity.
According to the EDM director of client services, Neves Xavier, cited by Radio Mozambique on Monday, the theft of power, through illegal connections, occurs mainly in urban areas, while the destruction of electricity installations occurs mainly in the expansion areas of the Matola municipality.
“We have this question of clandestine connections”, said Xavier. “We are dismantling networks of illegal power connections almost every day”.
In Matola, destruction is often caused by traffic accidents when vehicles hit electricity pylons. “Motorists are responsible for this vandalism”, said Xavier. “When the weekends come, it’s always a challenge in Matola to make the rounds and see where pylons have been hit”.
To make matters worse, it is often impossible to identify who did the damage, since the same night the owners of the vehicles remove them.
Xavier promised that in 2017, EDM will step up inspection throughout Maputo province. He urged members of the public to denounce all cases of clandestine connections and destruction of electricity infrastructures.
“We are also urging all those individuals and companies who tow away damaged vehicles not to remove them without EDM authorisation if they find that the vehicles have damaged pylons”, he added. “We are also cooperating with the police, so that when a vehicle that damaged a pylon is identified, the police immediately contact EDM”.
When EDM itself identifies the vehicle, it contacts the police so that proceedings can immediately be started against the motorist concerned, Xavier added.
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