A major high-voltage line linking Zambia to Tanzania that will boost regional electricity trading and reliability is expected to start operations in 2029, Zambia’s electricity minister Peter Kapala told lawmakers on Thursday.
The project, agreed in 2014, involves linking Zambia to Tanzania and Kenya via a 2,300 km (1,429 mile) transmission power line built at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion.
Zambia, which secured grant funding of $292 million from the World Bank Group, EU and UK, will build just over 600 km of power lines.
Once complete, the interconnector will link the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) to the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP), enabling Zambia to trade up to 500 megawatts of power and positioning the country as a regional hub for electricity trade, Kapala said in a statement.
Last month, China’s Sinotech Consortium was awarded the first phase covering 186 km from Pensulo substation to Mpika and the second 200 km from Mpika to Kasama substation in northern Zambia, he said.
“The full scope of the Zambia-Tanzania interconnector project will be undertaken in 24 months and is therefore scheduled to be commissioned by the second quarter of 2029,” Kapala said.
