In her Speech during a Dinner that was hosted in her honour by Zambia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mr. Muyeba Chikonde and his Wife Musonda at their official Residence on Saturday, the Vice President assured Zambians that the coming of the US$ 4 billion Batoka Hydro-Electric Scheme (HES) at Batoka Gorge will bring to an end load shedding in Zambia.
Mrs Wina said Government was working hard to ensure that load shedding in the country came to an end saying that the Batoka project, would produce 2, 400 Megawatts (MW) of electricity and create job opportunities.
“Currently, we are still load shedding but not as much as we used to. Load shedding is coming to an end next year with the coming on board of the Batoka Hydro-Electric Scheme (HES) at Batoka Gorge. Next year load shedding in Zambia will be be a thing of the past because the Batoka project, would produce 2, 400 Megawatts (MW) of electricity,” she said.
And Mrs Wina has called on all Zambians in the diaspora and Diplomatic staff to work hard and contribute positively to the national development of the country. The Vice President urged Zambians both home and aboard to work hard as per Government expectation.
“I bring greetings from the President, His Excellency Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu. The country is peaceful, contrary to social media reports. We now expect everyone to be working. The Zambian Government expects hard work from Zambians in the diaspora and the Diplomatic Staff, we expect inputs from you all for the development of the country,” she said.
The Vice President said that Zambia’s economy was performing fairly well and that the Zambian currency had stabilized.
She said Zambia needed investments in different sectors adding that Zambian Embassies needed to entice investments to come and invest in Zambia.
“There is still a lot to be done. Embassies need to entice investors both foreign as well as Zambians. We need you. And We are urging all Civil Servants to have pieces of Land. Civil Servants will be given loans; a window has been opened for those who want to go into agriculture,” she said.
Meanwhile Mr. Muyeba Chikonde assured the Vice President of hard work.
“Now that the elections are past, as your Honour have rightly told us, it is time for hard work and we take this directive seriously. We would like to assure you of our commitment to remain relevant in the realisation of Government’s goal of developing our country,” he said.
The Statement was released to the media by Abigail Chaponda First Secretary | Press and Public Relations Zambia High Commission in the United Kingdom and Ms. Kunda Mando, Press Aide, Office of the Vice President
Old age
How many times will she stand at the podium and tell lies. Last year they said loadshedding was going to end in November. Am so tired of these lies.
I am really sad for Mrs Wina, a kuku of her age to have to tell lies just to keep her PF job. The investment conference for Batoka has not yet been held. It is supposed to be held later this year. That means that PF does not have investors lined up yet. There’s no money for Batoka yet. I am not even sure that engineering designs have been done yet. Without those designs, any cost estimates are a mere thumbsuck. And then construction of a hydro power station takes years. Kariba took 3 to 4 years. On that basis alone Batoka can only operate after 2022. Will we be loadshedded up to then, Madam Very Poor (VP) lies?
I wish this would come true !!!.
For now, there is no schedule when the Batoka Hydro-Electric Scheme project will be completed and ready to supply electricity, it could be well towards end next year. So Zambians, you still have another 2 years (at least) to suffer.
Mama is telling you to stop criticising the government until after 2 years, would you hold your guns? Is mama experiencing load shedding like an ordinary Zambian? I doubt.
Liars & Political failures!
Buying political time for 2021!
Changing goal posts till 2021!
Liars & Political failures!
Buying political time for 2021!
Changing goal posts from November 2016 till 2021!
The sun is surely going to shine without fail for years on…why not invest in solar technology pls? Rwanda and SA are electrifying entire towns and cities yet we are busy relaying on a problematic resource that has not done well time and again
Sata campaigned on ending Load shedding…., that was more than 5 years ago. Rungu continued the same story …., With due respect mama Wina, u r talking nonsense
We respect Inonge when she is silent, we have her just for SHOW, symbolic.
But Everytime she says something, she mess up. In villages at that age if she start climbing roofs to should, people start go to witch doctors.
She is my mother, I will not comment .
Napapa sana, Batoka Gorge, Next year!!! Does any one have proven treatment for insanity? Here is a client for you.
So now the lies come out! After all the excuses have been exhausted. Drought. Cracks in the dam wall. “It’s GLOBAL”. South Africa will supply. Solar is the solution.
NO APOLOGY for the PF causing the LOAD SHEDDING in the first place! If these FOOLS had not immediately CANCELLED the Kafue Lower Gorge project in 2011 (now reinstated four years later) we would not have had the load shedding right now!
And Zambias economy would not have LOST 43 BILLION DOLLARS in lost production!
These clowns are destroying Zambia in front of our eyes!
Load shedding is ending next year??? Been there, heard that before.
What happened to Itezhitezhi power station? And wasn’t Kafue Lower Gorge supposed to be an easier project to bring to production? After all construction has started there as opposed to Batoka.
What??
Next year, what’s wrong all the free flooding waters?
You fake and shameless impersonator, there are so many names you can choose from to blog in social media, are you so dull and senseless that you cannot find your own name? please leave this name to me, I originated it to express how I feel about dogs like you and the same ones who keep singing the same endless chorus to us about load shedding.
Madam, the problem is not load shedding per se. Your problem is having that institution which is the most inefficient institution in the country called ZESCO. Even without load shedding power outages are a common thing with a regrettable sloppy response rate. Madam, please sell this institution to serious people who will then hire serious people
Mama Wina, I am sorry to say it is time for you to go and see a doctor. Or for your family to take you to one.
Alzheimer’s or senile dementia are not curable but the effects are treatable.
For the sake and future of the Nation it is time for you to retire from the political scene. The nonsense you have spoken here is obvious rubbish even to my ten year old boy.
Unless you are intentionally telling lies.
Then I am most dissappointed in you. You have obviously lost any integrity and honesty you ever had.
A friend said they have faults literally every night and they are given complaint numbers by ZESCO call center every night. He calls it our daily routine with ZESCO
Admission of failure!! “Vizankala bwino kusogola”
Yesterday her boss said farming season will be better next year. I have never seen such clueless incompetence in politics.
This rubbish and nonsense
“Now that the elections are past…”
There’s a petition to be heard and the thug PF govt could be kicked out. You are just lucky you don’t have ECOWAS in our of neck of the woods. Or Lungu and PF would have been history, jail or in exile by now.
How load sheeding will end if this Project is not yet awarded for Construction? It will take at least 5 years to construct this Project. Considering it´s Binational, will take even more.
Don´t fool people. Zambians deserve more!
Let´s call people and companies who knows this business!
THIS sounds like MADNESS!! Is Batoka gorge project going to be constructed today?? This is a project which at minimum may take 3 years and FINANCING for it has NOT BEEN FOUND you say NEXT YEAR?? Here is a VP who DOESNT EVEN KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO CONSTRUCT AN HYDRO-ELECTRICITY DAM!! It is so sad! What we WANT TO HEAR IS THAT LOAD SHEDDING IS ENDING OR REDUCING TO 1 HOUR DUE TO GOOD RAINS BEING EXPERIENCED, NOT THIS WILD MADNESS!!
This is proof that water in Kariba was never the real reason that loadshedding was started. Insiders say that Zesco is exporting power while switching off Zambians. And of course Batoka cannot come onstream next year. It is impossible.
Buck Tooth Lungu you are very much right. If our vice President was being honest a little bit about loadshedding she should be saying due to heavy downpour and the like not another hydro station. so what happens when water levels reduce in Batoka? The Government must free the Electrical Energy sector like Telecom and allow for other investors to compete with zesco. kwamana
Some of us are tired of advising. Give the country back to the British through an agreed contract satisfactory to both parties(Zambia and Britain). One says farming will improve next year, one says load shedding will end next year, every thing is forward, forward. Its all future tense. Nothing working for now
Next year..next year..next year always the same,shame on you.
Kambani kaleza madam.
Useless beep! You are the worst vice president in the history of this nation. You are a useless old woman who supposed to go and rest at farm and eat chiwawa. Galu iwe!
Sorry Zambians load shedding is not going g away anytime soon the old pensioner you have as a vice president has just confirmed that’s pf for you lies is all they know
This is habit of making promises with a timeframe just makes you look like a Liar, because every realistic Zambian knows that load shedding won’t end next year. This is not the first time such a promise has been. Kambwili said the same thing when he was singing about Maamba Coal. There was the guy called Mukanga who kept promising and assuring us that by June 2014 Zambia “will have a national airline” after advanced meetings in Dubai. So don’t complain when we call you a Liar Mrs Wina. Just work quietly without any trumpets. These people don’t learn mweeeee.
The reason you have given us before for load shedding is insufficient levels of water at Kariba Dam & elsewhere, but not low capacities of power generating equipment or facilities. Please, talk about current rainfall whether it is enough to feel the dams, rivers, which has caused current load shedding. How do you start campaign promises before 2021. Talk about US$ 4 billion Batoka Hydro-Electric Scheme (HES) when you have commissioned it. How do you pride yourself of giving civil servants loans for farming who at least have jobs & income when millions of youth have nothing to do apart from terrorising innocent motorists looking for parking slots? What time are they going to work & farm? Millions of Street kids have nothing to eat & shelter?
Next year!! How did South Africa manage to end their loadshedding? They appointed a fantastic manager(manager not electrician) called Brian Molefe who within 6 months stopped these blackouts once and for all. By the way the guy has been firedso he has no job. You can hire him to end your blackouts in 6 months
Poor Grandma Inonge being played by young crooks like Lazy Lungu to tell lies…what a shame!!
hey i thot she said it would take three good rain seasons for that to happen? coz isnt batoka gorge on the same river as the kariba? how then will this happen next year? anyway one needs only to take a look at the various fora that these pronouncements are made and you might get a sense as to why……what rhymes with dine????
“Elections are over” with a Petition in Court. Illegitimate Lungu and Wina cannot wish the Petition away. No intelligent investor will invest in country which does not respect Rule of Law, Property Rights and Human Rights and led by an illegitimate Lungu govt. Until the Petition is heard and disposed off there will not be peace, unity ,Reconciliation and National Healing in Zambia.
Lying is in the very fabric of pf
Nothing new. Power deficits were projected long before PF and the stabilising period was said to be 2018. Don’t listen to old and odd tales…
It is true power deficits were projected.
So why then did Lungu not take notice and rectify the situation?
Ignorance?
Arrogance?
Incompetence?
Hangovers?
Or just plain stuupidity?
Moribund ZESCO must be revamped. Put right people there. Too many incompetent people at this institution
“http://www.chronicle.co.zw/batoka-gorge-power-plant-plan-expanded-to-2400mw/
PLEASE, COPY AND PASTE THIS LINK INTO YOUR FAVOURITE BROWSER.
ALSO, READ:
“https://www.lusakatimes.com/2015/12/30/construction-of/”
I THINK THE ENDING OF LOADSHEDDING HAS GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FINISHING OF THE BATOKA HYDRO POWER PLANT CONSTRUCTION. CONSTRUCTION IS ESTIMATED TO FINISH AFTER 6 YEARS AND CONSTRUCTION HASN’T EVEN STARTED ACCORDING TO THE FIRST LINK. MAYBE LOADSHEDDING FINISHING WILL HAVE TO DO WITH THIS SEASON’S COPIOUS RAINFALL AND ADDITIONAL POOL OF POWER INTO THE NATIONAL GRID FROM, MAYBE, NEW SOLAR FARMS. HOWEVER, THE QUESTION IS HAS CONSTRUCTION OF THE SAID HYDRO POWER PLANT COMMENCED, YET?
I thought it was to end last year in November? Now it will end next year – and we are in January. Unbelievable! A critical sector such as this, and people living on promises.
Not even giving a figure about what the shortfall in MW requirement is? Just talking “2400! Kuli 2400 icho mamama!” And why have they stopped boasting about the solar plants which were supposed to solve the problem? Has someone pocketed the WB money? Where are the facts, please reporters?
How can she say the Batoka Gorge project is coming “on board” next year? Can somebody please verify that’s really what she said. Construction has not even STARTED!!!!
If you have an older parent or grandparent suffering from dementia, you learn to ignore their ranting’s…
Balikota bamayo balalaba sana
TERRIBLE You have an opininon on all topics yet I dont see your journalistic skills commenting on this…. come on TERRIBLE show us your undeniable talent
ATI ” NEXT YEAR ” LOL
IN MY CONCLUSION AND IN SHORT, I NEVER HEARD HER HONORABLE THE VICE-PRESIDENT, INONGE WINA SAY LOADSHEDDING WILL END NEXT YEAR. BUT, I OBVIOUSLY HEARD HER SAY, “LOADSHEDDING WILL GREATLY, BE REDUCED”, AS OPPOSED TO, ‘LOADSHEDDING WILL FINISH’. AMEN
About time too, honestly that’s one thing I can say spoiled my nice time in Zambia when I last visited. One would think that in this era of advanced technology, things should have improved. the Zambia I left so manay years ago was better than the one I found. It is not acceptable to force people to live in such conditions.
Should I also say it’s bad for investments.
This is PF for you. They found a robust economy in 2011, a Middle income country. Now Zambia is the third hungriest country in the world, with 8 hour blackouts and massive corruption spilling over into Malawi and neighbouring countries. This is what you get when you entrust a country to a bunch of thieves, conmen.
We have heard her lies before, even in parliament. I stopped listening to her from the time an opposition cadre was stripped naked and she said nothing. An opposition cadre was short dead and she kept quiet to protect her job.
I have repeatedly said it before, Zambians are themselves to blame.
How can somebody in their right mind vote for PF??
CB, Central, & LSK is definitely full of fools!
And so it shall be, loading shedding shall surely continue probably until next elections.
PF is general a threat to the well being of mother Zambia.
PF is part of Scums & Liars.
She is the one who put us in this mess to start with by rigging into office a flat footed clueless neophyte with no managerial experience.Today she realizes how big the problem is and continues to dribble the docile natives by dangling the Carrot again except on a longer stick. As for me, I am now completely off this nonsensical power grid.
So they will finish the Batoka project by next year – a project that has not even started, a project that cannot possibly take 1 year to complete. They promised a bridge at Kazugula over the Zambezi river 2 years ago and nothing has come of it….Stop the lies !
ONE BIG FAT LIE:- Building a Hydro Dam does NOT take a year, or 2 years.
At least 10 YEARS is required to build a hydroelectric power station the size of Batoka.
Batoka Hydro-Electric Scheme can only come on-line in 2027 at the earliest.
1. Immediate solution is to remove the USELESS Under-capacity CHINESE TURBINES installed at Kafue-Gorge & Kariba North Bank by PF-Regime & re-install the original British-made Turbines.
2. Un-bundle ZESCO into 3 firms: Generation, Transmission & Distribution. Since Kariba North Bank Ltd was coupled to Zesco, its been infused with PF-cadres so much that it’s become inefficient.
3. Invest in renewable sources of energy like Solar, Biogas. Zambia has 365days of sunshine but majority still live in darkness. Villagers have plenty cattle but…
They will never unbundle Zesco…its a cash cow for Ruling Parties!!
Matuvi politicians
Agogo Inonge your boss – clue less (ECL) went to commission Mambaa Coal last year with the same lies.
What a bunch of liars. Surviving on Don’t Kubeba syndrome.
We know ZESCO is exporting power to neighboring countries at the expense of docile Zambians but one day your lies will catch up with u. Enough is Enough.
I think it is high time Zambians should seriously scrutinize PF. Just a day ago LUNGU was quoted as saying distribution of Farming inputs will be okay NEXT year and today Agogo Inonge is saying load shedding is ending NEXT year. All these are lies. Zambians raise up you have been taken for granted by these bunch of liars.
This the same agogo who promised 500,000 jobs would be created before the end of the year, when Chagwa took over from Sata.
I REST MY CASE!!
Flying thousand of miles just to tell lies what a worst of tax payers money. This is PF for u.
Lol #Icant deal. The rain came, we are still loadshedding. Zambia is still exporting power. Or and your boss stated no need for power improvement because we can import from SA. Before issuing statements, please co-ordinate. As for the diaspora investing, or making a contribution we are through remittances, real estate, Agriculture etc. We are just not doing it with Boma/Cadres.
NGA YALYA AMA SHIP BA ORDELE TO CUSHION LOAD SHEDDING. TABALELANDAPO NOKULANDA. CHILISHANI KANSI KANSI
For how long must we wait madam Vise President? Last year (2016) we where told load shedding was going to end this year (2017)? Can some one please advise me why when buying ZESCO units we are being charged for: 1. Excise Duty K1.10, VAT, Fixed Charge K18.23 and TV License K3? Meaning before your are given your KWH first you need to pay K23. Lets wake up
Please Zambians, appreciate positive news for once. Pessimism has no room for development. Thanks madam VP. Zambia will wait patiently.
Your attitude is exactly the problem that stands in the way of development of the country. She is promising something that is not physically possible, and yet you even thank her! It’s not God who makes hydroelectric power plants it is Man