Mozambique: Electricity restored in cyclone hit areas

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Mozambique: Electricity restored in cyclone hit areas

8:25 CAT | 19 Sep 2019

File photo: Notícias

Mozambique’s state-owned electricity company (EDM) has completed the provisional replacement of power transmission lines affected by cyclone Idai in March, the company’s president announced on Monday.

“We are practically at the end, the rest of the system in the central region is restored,” said Aly Impija, chairman of the board of directors of EDM, quoted by the private channel STV.

EDM has invested $21 million (€19 million) in replacing infrastructure damaged by the bad weather in the central zone of the country.

The company is mobilising more resources for the definitive restoration of transmission lines in the same region.
As for the northern part of the country, EDM needs $three million (€2.7 million) for the provisional restoration of the system, estimating that $103 million (€93 million) will be needed for the definitive restoration.

To date, the state-owned company has raised $47 million (€42.5 million).

Cyclone Idai, which hit central Mozambique in March, caused 604 deaths and affected about 1.5 million people.

The storm caused intense flooding that washed away villages, bridges, roads and other infrastructure, creating gigantic lakes that took weeks to disappear.

The city of Beira, one of the main cities in the country, was severely damaged and served as the stage for a gigantic operation to mobilize international resources to support the population.

The destruction also affected the neighbouring countries of Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Cyclone Kenneth, which hit the north of the country in April, killed 45 people and affected 250,000.

More than half a million people still live in destroyed or damaged places, while another 70,000 remain in emergency accommodation centres, according to the latest report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in July, which warns of the lack of conditions to face the new rainy season that begins in November.

Source: Lusa