Mozambique–Malawi power line delayed due to equipment shortage for tower erection

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Mozambique–Malawi power line delayed due to equipment shortage for tower erection

2:21 CAT | 14 Nov 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Rádio Moçambique]

A lack of suitable equipment to lift two towers, each 197 and 200 metres high, which will support the power line crossing the Zambezi River in the city of Tete, is affecting the deadline for the completion of the Mozambique–Malawi electricity interconnection project.

These will be the tallest electricity transmission towers on the African continent and are being constructed on both sides of the Zambezi River, positioned 1.8 kilometres from each side of the riverbank.

Environmental mitigation measures required a review of the province’s history over the past hundred years, revealing that Tete is vulnerable to severe weather conditions. This influenced the decision to install this type of tower, regarded as resilient to climate change.

The project manager for the electricity interconnection at Electricidade de Moçambique, João Catine, described the process as complex.

Despite these challenges, João Catine assured Mozambique’s High Commissioner to Malawi, Alexandre Manjate, and the Secretary of State for Tete province, Cristina Mafumo, who visited the project site on Thursday, that the work will be completed definitively by the end of December, or at the latest by early January next year.

This information was well received by High Commissioner Alexandre Manjate.

The project involves constructing a 218-kilometre electricity transmission line from Matambo in Tete province to Phombeya in Malawi, which will address the current energy deficit faced by Malawi.

Currently, the electricity generation company (Egenco) produces only 367 megawatts, far below the country’s estimated demand of 719 MW, and only 11% of the population has access to electricity. (RM Blantyre)

Source: Rádio Moçambique