Mozambique expanding electricity supply to meet the needs of a growing economy

Mozambique´s Energy Minister Salvador Namburete says that his government is implementing plans to expand electricity supply to meet the needs of a growing economy. According to the state-run Radio Mozambique, the minister made the announcement at his Ministry’s Coordinating Council in the Niassa Province’s northern provincial capital of Lichinga.

Namburete stated that demand for electricity in Mozambique grew at an annual rate of 13% between 2011 and 2013 compared to 10% per annum in the previous decade. Demand is particularly high in the northern provinces of Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa, with growth rates of 20% annually, almost double the national average.

While the government’s electrification programme has extended the national grid to 121 of the country’s 128 districts, Mozambicans will have to wait until the end of 2014 for the remaining seven districts to be connected. Until then, however, patience will remain high as significant steps to redress the electricity supply failures have been made in the last decade.

Mozambique is a major regional producer of hydro-electric power, mainly from the 2,075 MW capacity Cahora Bassa dam but, in 2004, only 7% of the country’s population had access to electricity. Over the last decade, however, the government’s electrification programme has raised that figure to just over 40% in 2014.

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