EASTERN, Central, Muchinga, Northern and Luapula provinces are expected to be hit by massive blackouts which will last up to 10 hours every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday for 20 days.
And Zesco has pumped US$52 million in the optic fibre project and maintenance of transmission infrastructure to reduce power outages countrywide.
The power utility company will start load-shedding this week for 20 days to facilitate maintenance of the Kabwe-Pensulo 330 kilovolts (KV) transmission line near Serenje which covers almost the entire country.
Zesco senior manager in-charge of optic fibre projects Nang’alelwa Sitwala said works on the optic fibre will gobble US$44 million while the maintenance of transmission infrastructure will cost US$8 million.
“We want to apologise to our clients in the affected provinces that the outages will be lasting 10 hours every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday for 20 days,” he said.
He said Eastern Province in particular Chipata will experience another power outage in June this year on its 66Kv Msoro-Chipata and 66Kv Msoro-Katete transmission lines which will be on maintenance.
He said the outages in Chipata will last for two weeks every Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in a week with residents expected to stay for 10 hours without power on the designated days.
And Eastern Province regional manager Wilbroad Chanda said the province had been experiencing outages and load-shedding because the company is upgrading its substations to meet the growing needs of the town.
Mr Chanda said once the optic fibre and maintenance works on transmission lines are completed, customers will not experience power outages.
And speaking at a clients’ cocktail in Chipata last week, Mr Sitwala said the installation of the optic fibre will stimulate growth of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in rural areas and bridge the digital divide.
“Zesco has procured an optic fibre communication system and wants to install it to improve the protection, monitoring, control and operation of the 330kV transmission system in addition to provision of broadband communication service in the country,” Mr Sitwala said.
He said the optical fibre communication system will be installed on high voltage power lines to facilitate remote control and monitoring of substations and power lines on the respective line.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Ama Rubbish. you should plan for alternative power supply. What happens to hospitals, schools and Gas stations. i don’t understand why our people think casualy on issues that affect lives and business. Do they understand that most business now rely on power and in an event like this they should consult and provide alternatives especially in hospital? rubbish!
I remember Sata telling us that there would be no blackouts if he came into power….. i wonder who is ruling us now.
People voted and got what they wanted. CONFUSION.
@ Mashimba, tafiisa ngameno yamukanwa. First thing must be done to lessen popwer outages and this is what the PF govt is embarking on. No miracles for to get there.
Cyprian Chitundu…part of Sata’s family forest is very incompetent,thats why he was fired.He was re-instated cos Sata’s does not believe in merit but in his family forest and he(Chitundu) fired all experienced directors as pay back for his dismisal and employed his fellow incompetents. Chitundu,just like Sata has got no game plan and Zesco is either moving backwards in long strides or in auto-pilot/Worse still,its a Natural Monopoly,so any losses incurred thru his incompetency will be borne by taxpayers.Donchi Kubeba!
Was there no other way of doing this ‘maintenance’ without resorting to load shedding? Engineers let us know! Sounds rather odd?
pa fwaka party in action.
Opposition cadres at it again. some of the comments here border or pathological hatred for the President for obvious reasons or plain analytical poverty. 1. The country has not had any meaningful investment in the power sector since independence 2. The mining sector which is the highest consumer of power has increased investments with many players opening new mines. 3. The Population of Zambia has increased from 4m at independence to 12m currently. all this is against the backdrop of same mega watts the plants were designed to produce from inception. For me I would commend the ZESCO management for carying out these mantainance activities and indeed letting know the consumers of what to expect. Lets be objective in our comments and profer solutions for the betterment of Zambia.
You are really a Sata supporter. Ku ZWD and kuno konse. Mwabombenipo mukwai.
ZESCO that is an-acceptable.We have the so called engineers but nima rubbish.You can not inconvinience people and businesses just like that.Whether you are doing maintenace or not there must be an emmergency alternative source.This is why Mushota questions our IQ
Donchi Kubemba………………… ma rubbish, ubupuba.
Many commentators here are down-right childish. Planned maintenance is a necessary component of operating even simple equipment like a bicycle. I see nothing wrong with this planned maintenance on Zesco equipment.
Sata is a blantant liar.!
I wo nder if you have brains at all, Sata is president and zesco operates on its own, let zesco explain the power outages unlike putting blame on the head of state.every instituition has its own problems not da president, allow him to rule us,if you are not happy go to Rwanda ,burundi, uganda etc