World Bank Approves Funding For Major Project That Will Interconnect Mozambique And Malawi
World Bank has approved grants and loans amounting to USD 57 Mn for a project that will interconnect the Mozambican and Malawian power grids.
The bank through its subsidiary International Development Association(IDA) which offers concessional loans and grants to the world’s poorest developing countries, provided Mozambique with a USD 42 Mn grant, and Malawi with a loan of USD 15 Mn.
Mozambique will also receive a grant of USD 24 Mn from a Norwegian trust fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, administered by the World Bank and further a grant of USD 22.1 Mn from the government of German.
“The new Mozambique-Malawi Regional Interconnector project will establish a transmission link between the two countries to meet increasing electricity demand in Malawi and create opportunities for trading in the SAPP”, said Dhruva Sahai, the Task Team Leader of the project.
Farmers, Businesses, homes will benefit from the project as, through it, access to reliable electricity will increase hence boosting productivity.
The project entails the construction of a 218 kilometer, 400 kV high voltage alternating current transmission line, grid connections, among other infrastructure that would be necessary for the success of the project.
The new line will start at the Matambo substation in western Mozambique and end at Phombeya substation in Balaka District in southern Malawi.
The project will interconnect the two neighboring countries enabling them to engage in bilateral and regional power trade.
Malawi and Mozambique share over 1,000 miles of the border. The relationship between the two countries has generally been constrained. An impasse regarding the use of the Zambezi River for waterborne trade and a stalled electrical grid interconnector agreement point out the challenges facing this relationship.
This latest initiative, however, implies a positive turnaround in the relationship between the two, initiating potentialities for deeper collaboration and co-operation in key sectors which could, in turn, lead to collaborative developments.
Featured Image Courtesy: Carbon Brief
