Excellencies Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera and Madame Monica Chakwera are in Mozambique on a four-day state visit at the invitation of President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi.
President Chakwera’s first stop was in Tete Province where he jointly launched construction of the Malawi-Mozambique Interconnector Project.
The launching ceremony comes almost five months after President Nyusi launched an interconnection transmission facility at Phombeya Substation in Balaka during his state visit to Malawi.
Speaking at the launch function President Chakwera hailed the project as historic for the two countries as they jointly embark on a new partnership for prosperity.
He stressed on the importance of the joint project which he said will help to ease the increasing demand of electricity in Malawi. He further highlighted that the project will create an opportunity for Malawi to export power into the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
The Malawi leader hinted that the Malawi Government through ESCOM may get an extra 60 megawatts from Mozambique giving it a total of 110 Megawatts from the interconnector line.
Government of Malawi through Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has re-engaged the Mozambican electricity company- Electricidade de Moçambique- for possible additional power supply.
The construction phase of the project will create over 1,000 jobs both to Malawians and Mozambicans.
The Malawi-Mozambique Interconnection project is being funded by the World Bank, the European Union and the Kfw. Once this joint project is completed it is expected to close the gap between the supply and demand in Malawi that has greatly affected the manufacturing and different service delivery in the country.
Later, the two leaders flew to the Port of Nacala where the Malawi leader familiarized and appreciated the expansion of the facility as it continues to service Malawi as a transit for goods and services.
President Chakwera and the First Lady have since flown to Maputo where he is expected to hold bilateral talks and sign a number of agreements with his Mozambican counterpart.
