Britain agrees to fund Zambia-Tanzania power connection

Britain had agreed to provide about US $288,000 towards consultation costs for the proposed Zambia-Tanzania power interconnection project, Xinhua reported on Wednesday. Quoting a senior Tanzanian official who preferred not to be named, the report said the rest of the cost, estimated to be over US $150 million, would be financed by the Private Advisory Infrastructure Facility of the World Bank.

The source was quoted as saying that pre-qualification for consultation services had been completed and that seven firms had been short-listed. The project, conceived under the auspices of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in 1993, would involve the building of a 697 km long power line between Pensulo in Zambia and Mbeya in Tanzania to alleviate Tanzania's power shortages, the report said.

"The completion of the project would enable Tanzania access to the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) which was formed to rally efforts and resources in the SADC region to jointly solve long stricken power problems by creating a common electricity supply market," the source was quoted as saying.

He said the Tanzania Electric Supply Company and Zambia Electricity Supply Company, with assistance from ESKOM of South Africa, had carried out a feasibility study of the project, which was targeted to be commissioned by 2004. Affected frequently by acute power shortages, Tanzania was seeking to be linked to the giant electric power grid of the southern African countries as a permanent solution, the report said, adding that by connecting to the southern African grid, Tanzania would join Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa.

The grid depends on giant hydroelectric plants such as Kariba Dam on the Zimbabwe-Zambia border, the Kafue dam in Zambia, coal-fired plants in Zimbabwe and two nuclear plants in South Africa, according to the report.