The government of Mozambique has signed a US $506m deal with various foreign institutions for the Temane-Maputo power line project. The foreign institutions involved in the signing include; Notícias, the Government of Norway, the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Islamic Development Bank, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund and the Southern African Development Bank.
The power line project is an initiative of the Mozambican government and the publicly owned electricity company, EDM. It is set to be a 563km electricity transmission line from Temane, in the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane, to Maputo.
Construction works
Construction works on the development involves of a 340km stretch between Vilanculos-Chibuto (provinces of Inhambane and Gaza), 180km on the Chibuto-Matalane section (Gaza-Maputo) and 43km on the Matalane-Maputo section.
It is scheduled to commence in the first half of 2020 and end late 2023. Upon completion the new transmission line is projected to provide greater availability of electricity for various social and economic projects in Inhambane, Gaza and Maputo provinces, and provide power for more connections to domestic consumers. 400MW will be added to the added to be to the national electricity grid, which corresponds to 16% of Mozambique’s production capacity.
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Development of integrated electrical infrastructures EDM will develop the electricity generation project in partnership with the South Africa company Sasol, and the independent power producer Globelec Africa Ltd. Sasol will operate the natural gas fields that will be connected with the transmission line. This gas will be the source of the power.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi, said that the construction of the Temane-Maputo line is the first phase of the Tete-Maputo line, which will allow the development of integrated electrical infrastructures that will bolster the industrialisation of Mozambique and Southern Africa.
