Africa-Press – Mozambique. The “immediate restoration” of electricity in the province of Cabo Delgado, without power since Tuesday, will cost 20 million meticais (US$313,000), said yesterday the president of Mozambique’s power utility, acknowledging “enormous” losses.
“To mobilise the teams, the materials, we have for this immediate restoration a cost of around 20 million meticais,” Joaquim Ou-chim, president of Eletricidade de Moçambique (EDM), told journalists in Cabo Delgado.
The northern province has been without electricity since Tuesday night due to the collapse of a high-voltage tower on the stretch between Namialo and Metoro, caused by progressive soil erosion from heavy rain in the region.
In addition to Cabo Delgado, the power outage also affects the district of Eráti in the neighbouring province of Nampula.
According to Ouchim, the state-owned EDM was implementing a temporary solution to restore power yesterday in the province, which involved installing “wooden gantries” to be lifted onto the line to reinstate the current.
“Here where we are, we mobilised around 100 men, about half of them EDM teams, but we also recruited and trained people from this area to be able to support,” said Joaquim Ou-chim, speaking from the point of the tower collapse, where heavy machinery could not be used due to access conditions, making “a lot of human strength” necessary to restore the system.
For the permanent and resilient reconstruction of the tower, EDM will have to spend 50 million meticais (US$782,500) due to the emergency, the official added, noting that work is ongoing “day and night” to resolve the problem “as quickly as possible”.
“Our initial plan was to restore power last night [Wednesday], but unfortunately we had a very heavy rainstorm and, for safety reasons, we could not continue to work. But everything is being done so that today we can restore the electricity supply in Cabo Delgado,”Ou-chim added.
While power is not yet restored, EDM has been providing electricity generators in essential infrastructure, including hospitals, to mitigate the impacts.
The president of Eletricidade de Moçambique also noted that a project is underway, in collaboration with cooperation partners, to mitigate risks and ensure equipment readiness for a faster response in adverse weather.
Mozambique is in the middle of its rainy season, which runs from October to April, and has already recorded at least 202 deaths, 291 injuries and 852,285 people affected, according to an update from the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD).
The country is now on alert as tropical cyclone Gezani approaches the coast on Friday, with winds of up to 140 kilometres per hour and heavy rain, expected to affect around 1.1 million people.
Mozambican authorities have activated early cyclone response measures in some southern and central provinces that may be impacted by the passage of the cyclone.
