One of the first solar projects in Malawi has reached financial close after attracting investment totalling $67m.
Initial site works have now begun in Nkhotakota and construction of the first phase is targeted for completion by March next year.
Once complete, the project will add 46 MW of energy to the local power supply.
Developed by UAE-based Phanes Group in collaboration with responsAbility Renewable Energy Holding and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the project was the result of the first power purchase agreement signed with Malawi’s national utility ESCOM in February.
“Lack of power has been a real obstacle to Malawi’s social and economic development,” said Phanes Group chief executive Martin Haupts.
“This project demonstrates that solar energy offers a viable path to bringing power to those communities which need it most. We hope the Nkhotakota project will serve as a model for future private investment into the local solar sector.”
Solar use in Malawi
The project is the result of Malawi’s first competitive tender in the power sector, with the PPA set to last 20 years.
Phanes Group and its partners were awarded the project in May 2017 following an international tendering process which attracted bids from 21 companies. responsAbility is providing equity financing and also taking on the role of co-developer, while OPIC is contributing debt financing.
“This project will empower underserved communities in some of Africa’s poorest regions through access to affordable, reliable, and diversified energy,” said Tracey Webb, OPIC vice-president for Structured Finance and Insurance.
The Nkhotakota project is part of a strategy by the Malawia government to use solar power to strengthen the country’s electricity infrastructure. Currently only 15 per cent of the population has access to power, and the national capacity is estimated at 362 MW.
The new capacity added will make a significant contribution to the government’s target of increasing power access to 30 per cent of the population by 2030.
The project will also move Malawi away from its traditional reliance on hydropower, which currently comprises over 95 per cent of the country’s energy mix.
This has left the country vulnerable to droughts, particularly considering a recent drop in the water level of Lake Malawi which has threatened the region’s supply of power.
Thousands of people living with HIV and Aids in Malawi are “silently” dying of hunger, even as the government spends huge sums of money procuring life-prolonging drugs.
Malawi has one of the highest rates of HIV and Aids worldwide, with roughly one million people suffering from the deadly disease. But over the last 15 years the government has ramped up efforts to tackle the epidemic, gaining global recognition.
By 2018, 79 per cent of adults living with the illness were on antiretroviral therapy (ART), which is used to suppress HIV/Aids and prevent new infections. By contrast, the regional average rate of ART use across east and southern Africa is just 67 per cent, while that figure drops to just 53 per cent in west Africa.
But a rising threat could hamper Malawi’s steady progress: food insecurity.
Food shortages are increasing at an alarming rate in the nation after severe floods and droughts ruined this year’s harvest. At the end of last year, the UN named Malawi as one of nine countries in southern Africa at risk of a “hunger crisis”.
For those taking ARTs, the lack of food could have a devastating impact on their life expectancy.
Moses Munthali, a frail 14-year-old who contracted HIV during an unsafe circumcision three years ago, understands the challenges all too well.
“I become very weak when I take the drugs without eating anything, so I don’t take the drugs when there is no food,” he said, perched on the veranda outside his family’s small grass-thatched hut in a remote village some three hours from Zomba, Malawi’s former capital city.
But five months after hunger forced him to stop taking the vital treatment he was admitted to hospital with a crippled immune system.
“This was the worst experience I had never gone through and I can’t believe I’m alive,” he said. “I could [only] live on blood and water drips and was hopeless about life. I saw a shadow of death hovering around my face.”
food insecurity in Malawi
Moses slowly recovered but his grandfather, Ndawonga Munthali, is worried that history will soon repeat itself. For the last five days Moses has once again stopped taking the ARTs as food shortages take hold and hike up prices.
“I’m equally worried about my grand children’s health,” Mr Munthali, the family’s main breadwinner, said. “I don’t even sleep for him but there is nothing else I can do to help him because I have nothing to earn more money to buy him food.”
Both the World Health Organization and UNAIDS recommend ARTs to be taken on a full stomach to prevent side effects from the powerful drugs. But Cosman Munthali, an activist and chairman of the local branch of Malawi’s Forum on HIV and Aids, said that Moses is just one of thousands of people facing a difficult decision: take the ARTs and suffer negative side effects, or stop the therapy and allow the HIV to flourish.
“We have a lot of defaulters of ARVs due to side effects related to food problems such as extreme body weight loss, lack of appetite and other body changes,” Mr Munthali told The Telegraph. “Unfortunately, many of these people are poor and victims to acute hunger that has hit the country. The situation only takes them to their graves silently and untimely.”
The situation is not completely unprecedented. In 2005, the same year that the government introduced the ART programme, Malawi was also hit by severe hunger. In that year alone, the country’s National Aids Commission registered close to 64,200 Aids related deaths. In 2018, this figure had fallen to roughly 13,000.
But Karen Iron Msiska, corporate services and public relations officer at the National Aids Commission, said that it is too soon to identify whether hunger has caused a national increase in Aids-related deaths this year.
“There is some information that needs to be updated before we share to the world,” he said, adding that the ART programme was essential in reducing HIV death rates.
But according to regional data from Karonga, a district on the Tanzanian border, health authorities have identified some 6,400 people who have stopped taking ART, more than 40 per cent of the 14,200 HIV and Aids patients who are using the drugs.
David Sibale, In-Charge for Karonga district’s health team, said that Karonga had recorded 2,254 new infections between June 2018 and July 2019. He added that there is a high chance that those who stopped taking the ARTs to had contributed to the new infections because they are at higher risk of spreading the virus than those following the treatment schedule.
Mr Munthali said that the solution is to incorporate nutrition support for people living with HIV and Aids into ART programs.
“Donors, however, should come second after our government. We really need to intensify the combination and integration of the policy to support the people living with HIV and Aids with compatible services including food security,” he told The Telegraph.
Macdonald Sembeleka, another HIV and Aids activist, has also called on the government and donors to consider food security as part of a package to prevent people stopping ART – and therefore avert deaths.
“ART should be treated as the only critical aspect of driving the epidemic away but rather it needs to have some accompanying elements inclusive of the nutrition support,” he said. “Unfortunately, both government and donors feel less obligated to support the nutrition element.”
In response Joshua Malango, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, told The Telegraph that the government had not yet established whether people defaulted on ARTs due to food shortages or other factors.
“We have no evidence to such claims… [and] the introduction of ART services in Malawi has saved the lives of thousands since its inception in 2005,” said Mr Malango.
Heavy rains which have been pouring from new year till today have swept away some bridges and houses rendering people homeless.
A bridge connecting Mgona and Roberts in Kanengo has been swept away while another bridging Mgona and Ngomani is also gone as are all bridges across Nankhaka river.
Another bridge across Mchesi river connecting Kawale and the township named after the river has been extensively damaged.
The rains have also destroyed houses at Chipasula, Mgona, Senti and Area 25 leaving occupants helpless.
Department of Disaster Management (Dodma) on Thursday appealed to Lilongwe residents living in flush floods prone areas to leave following reports that more heavy rains are expected Malawi.
Dodma deputy director of disaster and response, Dyce Nkhoma visited Mgona where the department reached out to the affected households.
“We just heard about the reports that some houses have been damaged. As government we came to give first assistance such as food to alleviate suffering and we are now waiting for the assessment report,” he said.
It is not the first time that Mgona is experiencing floods as the situation was the same last year.
Heavy rains causing damage in Lilongwe
Nkhoma said discussions are underway to ensure people move out of the area.
“We are appealing to the media to sensitise the community so that citizens are not blocking the drainage system,” he said.
In his remarks Lilongwe City Center constituency parliamentarian Alfred Jiya commended government for the assistance.
Disaster has struck Lilongwe City Center as heavy rains destroyed an estimated 100 houses leaving occupants homeless.
Continuous rains caused havoc from around 6 pm on new year’s eve in the city.
The flush floods were aggrevated by an unfinished road drainage in Area 25 while in Senti and Mgona, Nankhaka river burst its banks.
On Wednesday Mchesi river also burst its banks causing floods along Chidzanja road and all the way to Chipasula
Some of Malawi Congress Party leaders will this weekend descend to Mitundu area to grace a football bonanza that is hitting its finale this Sunday 5th of January as part of the new year celebrations.
Information gathered by 247Malawi news is that the idea of a football bonanza was hatched by MCP’s deputy international relations director Edgar Chipalanjira .Chipalanjira who is also from the Lilongwe Msinja area then invited football teams from the area for a mini league that will finally reach its climax and find the winner this coming Sunday.
“All roads will lead to Lilongwe Msinja this Sunday. This is a big event for the people in the area especially young people. its a social gathering not to be missed ” said Chipalanjira. The bonanza is scheduled to start at 12 noon at Chiseka School ground.
Chipalanjira: Hosting football bonanza in Lilongwe Msinja
Among the guests of honour at the event , include MCP’s Campaign Director Moses Kumkuyu who will be accompanied by Honourable Rhino Chiphiko and Abraham Liwonde.
“As a party we are trying to get the youth familiarise themselves with the super high 5 concept of our party leader Dr Lazarus Chakwera as this is what will be the foundation of the future Malawi , there is nothing that brings the youths together than sports ” added Chipalanjira.
The Member of Parliament for Nkhatabay South who is also the Strategic Director for Malawi Congress Party Dr Ken Zikhale Ngoma on new year day took time to cheer the patients at a number of health centres in Nkhatabay Constituency
Dressed in his party colours, Zikhale arrived at the health centres and spoke to a number of staff and patients while handing over new year days gifts to the patients.
Zikhale first visited Kande Health Centre , where he welcomed four new born babies . He then proceeded to Kachere Health Centre where two baby girls were born on the day. His visit took him to Liuzi Health Centre where again he mingled with patients and had meaningful discussions with members of staff.
Dr Ken Zikhale Ng’oma visiting Patients at a health centre in his area
In a statement made available to 247Media Dr Ken zikhale Ng’oma said he took time to visit the hospital as it was a gesture of goodwill ” Its new years day and these people are in hospital far from their families,it is always good to come and cheer them up . It is even wondeful to come here and see all these newly born babies” said Zikhale. He also highlighted that as a Member of Parliament for the area, it is his duty to meet his constituents and hear and see the problems they are facing on a day to day basis.
One of the women whose child was born on new years day and received a present from Zikhale spoke highly of the member of parliament ” I want to thank Dr Zikhale , he is a very caring M.P and its wonderful to see him come and visit us on new year’s day”
