AfrElec: Malawi secures $60mn from World Bank to repair flood-damaged power plant

The World Bank has provided $60mn to Malawi for the repair of a power plant that was damaged by flooding in January 2022 in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Ana.

President Lazarus Chakwera said the funding is a soft loan to rehabilitate the 135-MW Kapichira facility over the next six months, the Nyasa Times reported on June 7. 

"Blackouts have been inconvenient but Malawians can expect to see a significant drop in blackouts by Christmas," the president said, speaking while commissioning a new 20-MW solar project, Golomoti, owned by JCM Power of Canada.

Apart from Malawi, Tropical Cyclone Ana affected Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius and South Africa. It killed about 142 people in total, including 37 in Malawi, where about 109,000 people were displaced. Damage to the power plant on Shire river, in southern Malawi, left an estimated 200,000 people without electricity.  

Chakwera said the Ministry of Energy must deal with government bureaucracy that hinders independent power producers (IPPs). "I therefore trust you to attend to this matter and give me a report by the end of this month on the status of each IPP that has expressed interest in helping us with our energy needs," he said, as quoted by the Nyasa Times.