Maputo, 8 Jul (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Friday inaugurated a photovoltaic power station in the Mawayela administrative post, in Panda district, in the southern province of Inhambane.
The power plant can provide electricity for about 400 households. Of the 400 connections envisaged, 350 have already been made, and a distribution network running for 15 kilometres has been established throughout the administrative post. The power plant cost about 100 million meticais (about 1.6 million US dollars, at the current exchange rate).
At the inauguration ceremony, Nyusi stressed that the electricity brought to Mawayela is not just for lighting, but should bring financial gain to the local communities
“Electricity doesn’t solve all our problems, particularly if we continue using it just as a source of lighting”, said the President. “Electricity should be used to generate income”.
As an example, he cited the small shops in Mawayela, which he believed could now operate with a certain quality. Up until now, the preservation of food has depended on salting or drying, but with electricity available shops can invest in refrigeration.
Previously shops had used cooking gas as the source of power for any freezers they possessed. But that entailed a journey of 50 kilometres to the town of Manjacaze in the neighbouring province of Gaza to buy the gas.
One local shopkeeper, interviewed by the independent television station STV, said he was spending about 4,000 meticais a month on gas.
Electrifying Mawayela is part of the drive by the electricity company, EDM, to electrify every administrative post in the country. In Inhambane there are only two administrative posts that do not yet have electricity (Tome in Funhalouro district, and Bazaruto in Inhassoro). Nyusi announced that work is currently under way to bring electricity to these two posts.
(AIM)
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