Mtwara, Lindi to be connected to national grid
DODOMA: DEPUTY Minister for Energy, Judith Kapinga, has said that the government is implementing a project to connect Mtwara and Lindi regions to the national grid via Songea, Tunduru, Masasi and Mahumbika.
She said this yesterday in Parliament while responding to a basic question from Zuberi Kuchauka, the MP for Liwale (CCM), who sought to know the government’s decision regarding the construction of a power station in Liwale District.
“The importance of building a power station in Liwale is evident as it will improve access to electricity in Liwale. I assure the MP that we are currently implementing a major project to extend the national grid to the mentioned regions,” said Kapinga.
She was responding to a supplementary question from Namtumbo MP, Vita Kawawa (CCM), who wanted to know when the residents who gave way for the national grid project to Mtwara and Lindi regions would be compensated.
Ms Kapinga said that President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s directive to ensure that these residents are compensated is being implemented.
She urged those residents to continue cooperating by giving up their land so that the project could be completed on time for the benefit of the nation.
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Responding to a question from the Meatu MP, Leah Komanya (CCM), who wanted to know if the government’s strategy was to end the frequent power outages in the Meatu District.
The deputy minister said that Meatu District gets its electricity from the Ibadakuli substation located in the Shinyanga Region, a distance of 135 kilometres.
Ms Kapinga said that the frequent power outages in the Meatu District are due to the long distance of the power transmission line and the ageing electricity infrastructure.
She further said that the government is continuing to take various measures to address this problem, including installing circuit breakers on the primary line, constructing a power transmission line from Mkalama in Singida Region to Bukundi in Meatu District and replacing old wooden poles with concrete poles.
“In the 2024/2025 financial year, the government has started to implement the construction of a substation in Imalilo, Bariadi District in Simiyu region, where a power line will be constructed from the substation to Meatu,” she said.
Responding to a question from the Bunda Urban MP, Robert Chacha, who wanted to know when the government would complete the distribution of electricity to the neighbourhoods of Bunda Town Council, she said that the government, through the Rural Energy Agency (REA), is already implementing to bring electricity to 15 hamlets in each constituency.
She said that starting in December this year, the government will begin implementing another project for 4,000 hamlets across the country.
