Nyusi pledges to complete electrification

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Nyusi pledges to complete electrification

7:15 CAT | 30 Aug 2017

Notícias

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Tuesday night guaranteed that all districts in the country will be electrified.

He was speaking at a gala dinner in Maputo to mark the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the publicly owned electricity company, EDM.

One of the forms of social inclusion, he declared, was electrification, and he wanted all Mozambicans included in the supply of electrical power.

So far the capitals of 150 of the country’s 154 districts have been electrified, and last week the government said it has 18 million dollars available to electrify the last four districts, which are all in the Zambezi valley – they are Luabo, Mulevala and Derre in Zambezia province, and Doa in Tete.

Nyusi challenged EDM managers to work in a rigorously professional and transparent manner, to build the institutional capacity of the company, and to update its workers about technological progress so as to guarantee the quality and efficiency necessary to implement electrification projects.

“As a government, we are aware of the restructuring of EDM under way, resting on the promotion of skills, and improvements in management and performance in order to transform it into a commercially viable enterprise, which is a regional and international reference point”, he said.

He urged EDM to play a leadership role in guaranteeing the industrialisation of Mozambique and of southern Africa. “EDM has been successful in cooperating with its counterparts in the region in the market of buying and selling energy”, he added. “We encourage EDM to continue this approach in a commercial way”.

EDM chairperson Mateus Magala said that over the past 40 years EDM has increased the number of its clients from 40,000 to over 1.5 million. That meant that 27 per cent of the Mozambican population is now connected to the national energy grid managed by EDM.

The company had increased its sales of energy from the equivalent of 150 million dollars in 2014 to about 500 million dollars in 2016. That year, for the first time ever, EDM published its annual report and accounts within the deadline required by law.

Magala said the company has centralised its procurement in Maputo, instead of breaking it up by the 11 provinces, which has helped improve EDM’s efficiency.

Source: AIM