The Minister of Energy and Mining, Hon. Dr Jean Mathanga, M.P, today switched on electricity at Mandrade Trading Center in Chikwawa District. This marks a great step in Governmnet’s efforts to increase electricity access to rural communities across Malawi
Mandrade Trading center has been electrified under Malawi Rural Electrification Program (MAREP), phase 9 which will electrify more than 500 rural areas across the country except Likoma District, which is fully electrified. Under MAREP Phase 9, the Ministry has already electrified 22 areas in Chikwawa District alone.
Speaking during the switch on ceremony, Dr Mathanga urged community members and traditional leaders to ensure that the installed powerline is not vandalised. During construction phase, Mandrade site was vandalized more than once making the Ministry to use extra 582 Million Kwacha to reconstruct the powerline.
“Preparations for MAREP Phase 10 are already underway, with implementation expected to begin next year as Government pushes to connect even more Malawians to electricity” Dr. Mathanga stated.
While acknowledging low electricity generation capacity, Dr Mathanga highlighted that, beyond grid expansion, Government is also investing in large-scale power generation projects to improve electricity reliability across the country, including: development of a solar power plant in Salima by Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) is developing a solar power plant in Salima, the Ministry is developing Mpatamanga Hydro project and Malawi is already importing from Zambia and will soon connect to Mozambique.
