Mozambique: EDM says Awasse substation needs to be rebuilt from scratch – MediaFax

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Mozambique: EDM says Awasse substation needs to be rebuilt from scratch – MediaFax

6:07 CAT | 04 Aug 2021

Image: TVM

With Mozambican and Rwandan forces expelling terrorists and recovering three important regions of Mocimboa da Praia district, General Commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique, Bernardino Rafael, was, on Tuesday, able to visit the headquarters village of Awasse administrative post.

His three main objectives were to publicly demonstrate the troop’s progress, boost their morale, and assess and envisage mechanisms for the rehabilitation of infrastructure considered key to restoring life in that part of the country and in the entire northern region of Cabo Delgado.

Bernardino Rafael was therefore accompanied by the Cabo Delgado director of Mozambique Electricity (EDM), Gildo Marques, and also by the provincial technical director of Movitel, Mohamed Hassin.

On the ground, the two witnessed a situation of total destruction. Little or nothing remains to be salvaged; the terrorists destroyed everything with the express intention of preventing any return to normality in the region.

After what could be considered only a preliminary assessment, the EDM director was categorical: the only way to restore electricity to the northern region is to build a new substation. What once existed cannot be recovered – it is beyond rehabilitation.

“As you can see, the substation is practically destroyed. The transformers, the reactors … everything. Almost nothing can be salvaged. Even the building is destroyed. What can be said is that, in terms of investment, to build a new substation is not cheap,” Marques told the few journalists who had managed to join the entourage.

A similar approach was taken by the Movitel technician; essential communications support infrastructure for Awasse and many other northern parts of Cabo Delgado had been destroyed.

“We had some vandalism inside our station. We had a total of six damaged batteries, and the main transmission equipment was also vandalised. Right now, we are going to sit down and assess the damage so that we can restore communications as soon as possible, not only in Awasse, but also for the entire northern area of the province,” he said.

Northern Cabo Delgado has been without electricity since the occupation of the town of Mocímboa da Praia roughly a year ago. Districts such as Palma, Nangade, Muidumbe, Mueda and Mocímboa da Praia have had no electricity supply.