Malawians will continue experiencing intermittent power supply in the days to come as the Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) grapples to restore power at Kapichira Power Station, which has capacity to feed about 130 megawatts into the national grid.

The station was shut down on Monday last week following damages to some of the equipment in the aftermath of Cyclone Ana.

Strong winds and heavy rains destroyed property worth millions of Kwacha including a dyke on the Shire River which Egenco uses to divert water into the Kapichira dam for energy generation.

As of yesterday, it was still unclear when the machines would be restored and how much the work would cost.

In an interview after touring the plant Monday, Egenco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) William Liabunya rated the situation as a disaster.

Liabunya told journalists that there was need for proper planning and extensive rehabilitation to bring the station back to life.

“At this point, we do not know how much it will cost us and when the works will start because we will need to redesign the whole project to prevent a repeat of such occurrences in future,” Liabunya said.

He said the company was yet to identify a consultant to assess the magnitude of the damage and a possible cost for rehabilitation.

“It will take a lot of effort, work and investment just to bring the station back to normalcy,” Liabunya said.

The electricity that Kapichira Falls generates reaches out to over 52, 000 households.

But those households will no longer have reliable supply of electricity as the power station that supplies them with electricity is now relying on other power plants to meet its electricity needs.

In 2020, Egenco spent over K5 billion when Cyclone Idai hit.

Eric Msikiti is a Senior Reporter/News Producer at Times Group. Though relatively young, Eric boasts years of experience in Malawi’s media industry.

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