Energy Minister Dora Siliya has revealed that the vast Kariba dam will not be filled up even if Zambia and Zimbabwe record normal rainfall in the current rainy season.
Ms Siliya said the Kariba will take more than three rainy seasons for it to me filled up to normal capacity.
She said the rainy season which has just started will do very little to raise the water levels in the Kariba dam.
Ms Siliya was speaking Sunday evening when she featured on ZNBC TV’s Sunday Interview programme.
The Lake Kariba dam stands 128 metres tall and 579 metres long on the world’s largest man-made lake and reservoir by volume.
‘I think we have reached a point where we need to be brutally honest with our people that this crisis will not go away tomorrow because even these rains we have experienced today (Sunday) in most parts of the country wont fill up the Kariba. We will not more than three years of good rainfall to fill up the Kariba.’ Ms Siliya said.
She said Government has since intensified power imports from Mozambique and is speeding up processes to facilitate the construction of inland power generation sites around the country.
‘We are currently spending colossal amounts of money on power imports and we are adding a further 100 Megawatts from Mozambique this December to cushion the problem but going forward we are concentrating on inland power generation through the construction of min hydro stations,’ she said.
Do any of you fool s proofread your material? Or you are like Sata, just quickly put up something and amend later?
PF excuses continues. i hoe she meant 3 rainy days and not seasons. Even just one day that Kariba can be filled, its rain not urinating.
I wont comment. S.t.u.p.i.d politicians explaining science!
Uko. It finally dawned to them that baring your heads in the sand does not solve problems.
Kasundilemo fye. Chalaisula.
This is to let you know that even if it rains load shedding will not stop. These guys are useless. PF are useless
My God can fill up the Kariba dam/lake in just one rainy season. He created the whole world and billion galaxies in 6 days! He flooded the entire earth in 40 days!! I thought you guys believed when you gathered on October 18!!
Keep telling it as it is Dora. I Will, however, sleep a little easier if I know that you have the right calibre of technocrats managing this resource and not merely PF cadres. But you are making a good start. Even Mmembe, the kingmaker has acknowledged that.
can we as well relook at the type of turbines being used at Kariba. Reduce on the cost and running of generators (And the noise from these things also….LOL. If the cost of running these genarators was low, there would be less dependence on the national grid
it will never fill up again due to new turbines
Yaipa bola…….3 more years of massive loadsheding..cry my beloved Zambia
careless whisper, the turbines at Kariba are world class.
zambian watchdog, Hon Dora said that “it will take three seasons to fill up the Kariba dam to its normal level”. She did not say that there will be “3 more years of load shedding”, the two statements are different.
Which world? 3rd.?
The good news is that by that time, PF will be out of power. 2016 vote Edgar Lungu out. He has failed Zambians.
@ Hildah Malama
You will die very soon due to depression because Edgar Lungu will be voted back into power in 2016, so its time you started accepting the inevitable!
Then its high time we vote for another person Who has a different way of analyzing and sorting out issues. We are not ready to continue this same suffering for the next three years of low productivity and job loses due to power deficit. Some one with a different solution would be ideal at this time.
@ alfred Hambaye
Please keep quiet if you have no clue of what it takes to build electricity Power Stations, there is no short cut unfortunately in this game! Minimum lead time for any Power Station worth its name is 5 years and if your preferred person (HH) cannot do anything to change this!
Am very sure you dont even have a diesel or petrol generator as an individual, do you?
Its very good that the truth is being amplified and stated as it is so that the magician Under 5 can shut up and stop lying about this low water challenge in the dam. Instead of blaming innocent President Lungu on the low water levels due to poor rainfall distribution, what people must always ask themselves is this, how long did it take the Kariba Dam to be filled to the designed capacity when it was first built?
Am sure those who care will find the answers and start appreciating the other efforts the PF Government is putting in place as interventions!
@ UFO
How can we appreciate your written comments when after all this four years of “education” (PF Academy for political science), you cannot spell “I am”?
You are wrong ? Dora. One steady and normal rainy season is enough to fill the Kariba. The catch is twofold; the rainfall pattern in Northern Zimbabwe and across Zambia and the efficiency of water releases levels for power generation at Kariba dam in relation to the new turbines.
There goes people without knowledge when infact information is everywhere. Why is that your tribesmate are eating roots instead of real food? Why couldnt they have manufactured rains in the last season for their cattle and crops? Be real!
I think it’s about time Zambians experience true leadership not these kawayawaya politicians…no vision and very dull…so let’s try Hakainde Hichilema 2016
Lungu is a joke
How many seasons did it take to drain the Kariba for it to take 3 seasons? Some people are just plain foolishi?
That is your PF Minister.
manje Hakainde Hazapanga mvula
lets do a bit of fluid mechanics here. water entering the dam = water leaving + accumulation. assuming water leaving the dam has been constant, and it took us one month to lose all that we accumulated in the previous yrs then it should take us one month of rain fall to build up to our initial volume provided nothing else happened to lose all the water in under a month. if dora keeps on hiding what happened to the water, then there is no guarantee we will ever fill up the dam because the rainfall pattern in zambia has not changed much.
Mr Neutral, Edgar may not be the best President the country has ever had, but he is certainly heads and shoulders above the contenders (or is it pretenders) that we have today. Yes I know that he even dwarfs them all in height, but that is not what I mean. For God’s sake, Edgar relates to me and the rest of the people, which other leaders cannot.
Surely a normal person who is aspiring to be President of zambia cannot possibly base the whole of his campaigns on such worn out topics as load shedding, rainfall, Kariba dam, value of kwacha, job losses in the mines etc. Bwana, all Zambians now understand these things. The miners know for sure that their jobs are usually threatened when copper prices go down below production cost, all Zambians know that when copper prices are low the…
Which Mr Neutral are you addressing & what is his comment & at where is his comment?
Bwana, all Zambians now understand these things. The miners know for sure that their jobs are always under threat when copper prices go down below production cost, all Zambians know that when copper prices are low the country does not have enough foreign exchange and so they are not surprised at the depreciation of the kwacha, all Zambians know when the rains are not enough the electricity dams will not not produce enough and so they load shedding. Of course they will complain, sometimes bitterly like any normal human being, and mislead you into thinking that they are listening to you, but the fact is that they understand. Zambians also know that when the rains are heavy floods can result, houses may collapse, and cholera may surface if they do not take precautions. They also know that…
Zambians also know that when the rains are heavy floods can result, houses may collapse, and cholera may surface if they do not take precautions. They also know that the government will come to their rescue through the DMMU with tents, medicines, relief food etc.
Come on opposition, these things are not new, Zambians have been through this before even long before anybody dreamt of Edgar Chagwa Lungu (I bet he was some little naughty boy at the time, enjoying his youth like all normally brought up children do!). I do not know what you need to do to enter state house after all those attempts. Try something new, innovation is the new catch word. I do not have to think for you, after all it’s not me who aspires to state house but you, so do some real convincing work man!
‘engineer ipaya’, the rest of us have all understood that the dam levels are very low and that this was largely due to poor rainfall, not in one season but over a period of time. All people who care to read research the abundantly available information regarding dam levels and rainfall patterns understand these issues and load shedding. We also know that this is not the first time it has happened, although in the past you and others may not have felt the load shedding that much. But then I ask, how could you ‘engineer ipaya’ have felt load shedding when you did not have access to electricity? Anyway, for now all patriots are busy finding solutions, so do not drag us into your little world where darkness and despair are the norm.
@Almighty. First you take the name of the Almighty God in vain. Second, 3 rain seasons in Zambia equals 3 yrs because we have 3 rain seasons in Zambia. So Careless whisper is correct. Under PF there will be 3 more years of load shedding
Courtesy#Happy Nonde Sichiz-Zambia Watchdog facebook comments…
This one cracked my ribs….it sums it all about PF leadership!!
___________________________________________
Edgar Lungu went to the UK and was having
breakfast with the Queen. He asked the Queen….
“Your Majesty, how do you manage to run your
Kingdom so smoothly?”
QUEEN: “Its’ because i always have wise people
around me.” LUNGU: “How do you know if the people around
you are wise?”
QUEEN: “Its’ very easy, you see,,,,(the Queen then
calls in the Prime Minister David Cameron)
QUEEN: “David, your parents have a child, he is
neither your sister nor your brother, who is he?” DAVID: “Your Majesty its’ me.”
QUEEN: “You see Mr Lungu, this is how you know
your people are wise.”
Lungu then returns…
Cont.
returns home to Zambia and asks
Kambwili.
LUNGU: “Kambwili listen, your parents have a child, he is neither your sister nor your brother,
who is he?”
KAMBWILI: “mmmmmh Lungu i have to think
about it and get back to you tomorrow.
As Kambwili is busy thinking when Dr Guy Scott
enters… GUY SCOTT: “Hon Kambwili, you look troubled,
whats’ the matter?”
KAMBWILI: “Scott your parents have a child, he is
neither your sister nor your brother, who is he?”
GUY SCOTT: “Thats’ simple, its’ me.”
KAMBWILI: “Oh yes!, thank you.” Kambwili then meets Lungu the next day.
KAMBWILI: “Lungu, i finally have got the answer
to your question.”
LUNGU: “Okay whats’ the answer?”
KAMBWILI: “It is Guy Scott.”
LUNGU: “Eheee you see!, this is why Zambia is not moving…
You didn’t finish the Joke..
LUNGU: “Okay whats’ the answer?”
KAMBWILI: “It is Guy Scott.”
LUNGU: “Eheee you see!, this is why Zambia is not moving…The correct answer is Prime Minister David Cameron
Cont..
forward. I am in midst of stupid and
unwise people. The answer is David Cameron.
Bollocks!
its govt’s duty to formulate/provide fiscal policies that promote or kill investment in the country. the problems in zambia started when you hicked the mineral royalty tax to 20%, then reversed to 9%. you claim that the contribution of the mining sector to our economy is only 5% and i wonder if that is enough to cause a 100% depreciation when the copper price has only fallen 20% bearing in mind that its contribution to the GDP is negligible.when we privatized the mines, what was the objective? what can we do to support the industry? review your taxes to the initial default. this is not time to milk the cow when the signs are clear that it is dying. your friends have invested in technology to export power from a ship, why cant you do the same instead of giving excuses. be proactive. have…
…what Dora is saying is that we are stack whit this status quo for a while say 15years….it cannot be three years as if we wont be operating the north and south power stations to get the dam filled up….I now believe some quarters who associated the mess we are in to negligence and incompetence….the damn gates and the by-pass were opened pre-maturely…..if the dam is half full and requires three years to fill to the bream…how long did it take to fill up on commissioning in 1959…when it was completely empty..??..do we need to bring back Italians to tell us what to do as old as we are.. 51 years old….??…rubbish
…few months ago energy minister was on the very TV telling us all shall be normal by March 2016..where did he get those facts since we still have the blurry same…
cont’d…
…blurry same ZESCO ‘technocrats’..??
…it would have made sense if Dora had mentioned June 2016 instead of March which the other ‘headless chicken’ mentioned…I would have thot the rounded up the decimals in the calculations….but now using the same hydro equations with the same parameters one student gets March 2016 for an answer and the other one gets March 2018 for an answer….god help us…everyone has acknowledged that load shedding is a factor to our declining economy….now for fifteen years of immense load sheading…I feel pit/empathy for our grandchildren…..
By now the whole population should have been aware of solar with government led incentives to incurage use of more solar.
This would have gone a long way in reducing the demand for electricity. But because they can’t steal from such activities PF won’t do it or will leave it to the private sector.