There has been a windfall of donor inflow into the country to finance different projects, a sign that different development partners now have confidence on President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera’s administration.
Barely a week after the European Investment Bank nodded the release of funds to the tune of €117 million for the M1 road project from Kamuzu International Airport roundabout to Chiweta, the International Development Association (IDA) an affiliate of the World Bank Group approved credit fund amounting to US$36 million and a grant of US$24 million for the rehabilitation of Kapichira Hydropower.
According to a letter dated 17 June 2022 addressed to the Reserve Bank of Malawi Governor, the IDA says the funds have been sanctioned as the emergency power restoration assistance seeking to rehabilitate the power plant and transmission infrastructure damaged by the Tropical Storm Ana in July this year.
“The objective of the project is to increase resilience of the Kapichira hydropower dam and spillway, and transmission and distribution damaged by Tropical Storm Ana in January 2022,” reads part of the letter.
It is expected that the injection of the funds towards the project will go a long way in easing the problem of blackout the country has been experiencing due to the damage caused by the storms that hit the country early this year.
Tropical Storm Ana resulted in severe flooding which caused extensive damage to the 129.6 Megawatts Kapichira Hydroelectric Power Plant putting the plant out of operation and affected the supply and distribution of electricity in the country.
