By Cosmas Kaunga, ESCOM Outreach Officer
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will partially handover Kanengo Substation to
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) Limited on Wednesday, 17th January 2024.
JICA will do the handover in their capacity as the financiers of the Lilongwe City Substations Upgrade Project.
Project Manager Bernard Nkhulawe said the upgrade started on July 15 2022 after signing a grant agreement on October 15 2021 and will end in May this year.
“The project seeks to upgrade Kanengo and Old Town Substations in Lilongwe City to cope with the increasing demand for electricity,” he said.
Nkhulawe said project team switched on one transformer at Kanengo on 10 December 2023, thereby enabling the substation to accommodate 15,000 additional customers.
“After the project is completed, Old Town and Kanengo Substations will allow for 21,000 and 58,000 new customers’ connections respectively,” he said.
“This is a remarkable milestone as it will help the corporation increase access to electricity in Lilongwe; hence, contributing to the economic development of the country immensely,” he said.
Undoubtedly, this project is in harmony with the Malawi Electricity Access Project, which will see 180,000 customers connected to the electricity network by June this year.
Nkhulawe said the upgrade was also necessary considering that the equipment at the two substations had outlived its lifespan.