Energy and Water Development Minister Kenneth Konga has advised potential investors wishing to grow Jathropha and other energy producing crops to work closely with the Energy Regulation Board (ERB).
Mr. Konga say this is because government needs to have adequate information on quantities of energy to be produced from such initiatives.
The minister noted that Zambia is endowed with abundant energy alternatives other than hydro-electrical power.
He was speaking when he paid a courtesy call on North Western Province Minister Kenneth Chipungu.
Mr. Konga said government is approaching and expanding the energy industry with a “Bird eye view” in a bid to bring onboard all the stakeholders.
The minister stated that this is why government revised the Energy Policy to make it all-inclusive.
And North Western Province Minister Kenneth Chipungu called on investors to invest in the province in sectors such as the hospitality industry.
Mr. Chipungu said the province is endowed with abundant tourist potential which has largely remained untapped.
Check in Shakafuswa’s trousers…there’s energy there.
The absence of a truly national science and technology research entity makes our grz grop in the dark on any technical issue. The minister is being evasive and completely idiotic by mentioning ERB which has a mandate to regulate the already existing energy sector, and not misty dreams.
This shows that our ministers are at best ignoramuses and at worst, dreamers.
The minister should fight for more research funding on alternatives to fossil fuels which are being depleted. The wise govts have pumped in money for such research. The country is rich in natural resources such uranium. There is a high potentail for jatropha, sweet sorghum and sugar cane as alternatives to fossil fuels. Konga provide enough funding for biofuels research in the country.
We must be very careful when we talk about biofuel. Already biofuel is causing the prices of grains like corn to go up and there is a hot debate in america about using food as a fuel and tying up agriculture resources for fuel when people in the third world like Zambia don’t have 3 meals a day.
Some people have the tendency of jumping on the bandwagon of alternative energy without support emanating from locally researched imperical data. It is blind faith which some of these ministers should desist from. While Jatropha may grow in Zambia, where is the research capacity and base and the attendant infrastructure essential to process this raw material? This kind of talk amounts to “hot air” and puts alot doubt on the respective government official’s capacity to digest and analyze information reported and quoted from foreign media. Zambia needs to expeditiously start making investments in key scientific and energy research fields. We must not be consumers of info but originators.
in my opinion, the ministry must embark on a sensitisation campaign to educate zambians on alternative fuels. Take biodiesel for instance,in europe theres people who manufacture it in there homes encorporating the use of small diesel procesors,this change didnt take 100 yrs.
We should concentrate more on Alternative Energy sources like hydrogen and solar because fossil fuels are already depleted and they are polluting the environment.