- Biteko says yesterday’s outage caused by technical hitch
MOROGORO: DEPUTY Prime Minister Dr Doto Biteko, who is also the Minister for Energy, has underscored that there is no load shedding in the country, alluding the weekend outage in several areas to challenges arising from infrastructures including water penetrating into some facilities.
“The power rationing has decreased a lot and there is no shortage of power…power outages are caused by other challenges including rain destroying some electricity infrastructures,” Dr Biteko said.
He made the statement at Kidatu Hydroelectric Power Station in Kilombero District, Morogoro Region yesterday, while inspecting the ongoing efforts to remove water that penetrated the facility.
On Sunday night, most areas in the country experienced power outages due to a technical hitch in the water level control system at the Kidatu Power Plant, which in turn failed to block the large flow of water entering the facility.
Dr Biteko said that until yesterday evening, the water control at the plant was managed and some water was released.
“The rains that pounded this year did not leave any sector safe, including the electricity infrastructure and even the roads…water has been destroying various facilities including electricity poles collapsing,” he pointed out.
In a related development, the Deputy Premier noted that the Ministry of Energy and Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) are making efforts to mitigate the damage that may be caused by the rains that continue to fall in the country.
He also commended TANESCO Managing Director, Engineer Gissima Nyamo-Hanga and his team for working throughout the night to ensure that Tanzanians have access to electricity.
According to Dr Biteko, some regions also in Zanzibar and Mainland Tanzania, especially Iringa, Tanga, some parts of Dar es Salaam and Coast Region started receiving power through Pangani and Ubungo number 2 power plants, while systematic procedures to restore normalcy in all areas are ongoing.
Recently, Dr Biteko ordered dissolution of Electrical Transmission and Distribution Construction and Maintenance Company Limited (ETDCO Limited) Board of Directors and appointed new management following poor performance, theft of public funds and electrical equipment in the firm.
The deputy PM issued the directives during a working session between him and the management of TANESCO and its subsidiary companies including ETDCO Limited and TANESCO Regional Directors and Managers in Mwanza with the aim of discussing performance in the electricity industry.
The development came just a day after he directed TANESCO Board to sack ETDCO General Manager, Muhamed Abdallah, who had failed to prioritise execution of the projects being managed by the company including slowing construction pace of 132KV power transmission line from Tabora to Urambo and Mpanda.
Dr Biteko made the decision following the failure of some officials of TANESCO and its subsidiary companies to implement his directives of December 2, 2023, which included combating corruption, building good relationships with the people they serve, strengthening trust within and outside the institution, stop making excuses and address power problems when they arise.
Equally, Dr Biteko directed all employees involved in the theft within the organisation to be held accountable according to the law including sacking them because they are the cause of power outages facing the country.
He also directed that citizens who would provide information leading to the identification of the thieves of electrical equipment thieves be given congratulatory letters and cash rewards.
During the occasion, Dr Biteko noted that any employee(s) who has been engaging in theft of various electrical equipment, including equipment with copper, transformer oil, project equipment and construction of illegal lines be punished.