Erratic power supplies affect GDP

Environmental degradation along Malawi's largest river, the Shire, has been blamed for ongoing power blackouts which are costing the country millions. Minister of Energy and Mining Hetherwick Ntaba said recently that Malawi was losing Kwacha 36 billion (US $338 million) a year as a result of erratic power supplies. The minister made the observation when he opened a three-day symposium on Environmental Geology in Blantyre, Malawi's commercial capital, last week. Ntaba voiced his concerns in the wake of continued power interruptions, causing the economy to lose Kwacha 100 million (US $938,967) a day, according to government statistics. The daily loss of Kwacha 100 million amounts to more than half Malawi's annual budget and represents a third of the gross domestic product (GDP). Ntaba blamed environmental degradation, saying: "Hydroelectric power generation failures are caused by, among other things, soil erosion and siltation along the Shire river." The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) Limited was also losing money - in the first quarter of 2003 Escom's Nkula Station was flooded and company officials had blamed environmental degradation along the riverbanks. "At that time, industry activity stopped because there was a lot of power blackouts," Ntaba noted. According to the Department of Forestry, Malawi's annual average rate of deforestation has reached 2.8 percent, regarded as the highest in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). About 125,043 ha of forest per year are being destroyed. The Shire's banks have been almost stripped bare of trees by communities living along the river. "This has been the main cause of power interruptions throughout the country," said John Ngalande, Deputy Director of Forestry. "It has been observed that the Northern Region of the country has the highest rate of deforestation compared to other regions, [despite] having the [smallest percentage of the] population - 11 percent - compared to 39 percent and 50 percent in the Central and Southern Regions respectively," he noted. Malawi has a population of 12 million, with 93 percent depending on biomass energy. Ngalande said the demand for charcoal and land were the main causes of the immense deforestation in the country. An unpublished survey by the Department of Forestry found that the majority of Malawians - 80 percent of whom live in poverty - do not use electricity because they cannot afford it. John Mwambene, Executive Director of the Coordination Unit for the Rehabilitation of the Environment (CURE), said the expanding population was putting pressure on Malawi's forests. "As the population grows, so the demand for land and other natural resources also grows." He said more effort was needed in enforcing existing laws, "otherwise we will continue facing these environmental problems". Hydroelectric power generation is the largest component of the country's power system, which has a total capacity of 355.3 megawatts and is small by regional standards. In 2000, Escom's total installed capacity was estimated at 304 megawatts, of which 94 percent was hydroelectric power, with the rest generated from thermal sources (coal, oil and natural gas).