POWER TO REACH DOA IN FEBRUARY

Electricity from the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi will reach the district of Doa, in the western Mozambican province of Tete, in February 2018, according to the Doa district administrator, Domingos Viola.Doa is one of two new districts in Tete, which began to operate with a district government in June 2014. Previously it was an administrative post in Mutarara district. Doa town relied on a generator to provide electricity. The second new Tete district, Marara, already benefits from Cahora Bassa power. Viola said that the topographic survey of the area through which the electricity transmission lines will pass has already been done. The pylons have already arrived and will soon be put in place. The transmission line will reach Doa from the neighbouring district of Moatize. In addition to Doa town the line will benefit Chazia and Chuez communities, as well as the villages of Madhamba, Kambulatsitsi and Necungas in Moatize. In all, the new line is expected to benefit more than 40,000 people.Because of financial constraints, the generator in Doa only operates for four hours a day. “We don’t always switch on the generator because the costs are high”, said Viola. “To run for four hours a day, the generator needs 40 litres of diesel, and we don’t manage to buy that every day. So we spend most of our nights in darkness”.

Viola said the Doa public, and the district government, have enormous expectations from the impending connection to the national grid. He was confident that electrification would stimulate development of the district by, for example, allowing flour mills to run on electricity rather than diesel. “We shall also introduce a night course in to schools, so that people can study”, he added. 

“So we’re eager”, said the administrator. “The contractor gave us a guarantee that the installation would be completed within six months. So we hope that in February our district will be illuminated with power from Cahora Bassa”. Viola did not say what the cost of electrifying Doa would be, but declared “for us, what is important is to have permanent lighting in the town, and even domestic electricity connections, so that people can create better conditions for their lives”. After Doa is electrified there will be only one district in Tete that does not receive power from Cahora Bassa. That is Zumbo, in the far west of the province, which obtains its electricity from Zambia.