Load shedding to reduce once Maamba switches on mid-November-ZESCO

Power utility ZESCO says the national grid will be boosted by the injection of about 270 MW of power from Maamba coal fired power plant starting mid-November 2016.

ZESCO Senior Manager Marketing and Public Relations Bessie Banda said this will result in a remarkable reduction in the national power deficit and subsequently in the extended load shedding that has been experienced in the last few weeks in some parts of the country.

Ms. Banda said Maamba Collieries Limited has constructed a 300 MW mine mouth coal fired power plant in Sinazongwe District of Southern Province.

She said two generators of 150 MW output have been installed at the power station. When fully commissioned, the power plant will produce 300 MW out of which 270 MW will be injected into the Zambian electricity grid.

Ms. Banda said the other 30 MW will be utilised at the Maamba plant adding that the first generator at Maamba was commissioned on 24 July 2016 while the second generator is ready and being prepared for synchronization to the national grid.

“Since commissioning, the first generator at Maamba has produced and dispatched about 65,346MWh into the Zambian power grid and ZESCO has been buying this power. However, on 9 October, the Southern part of the Zambian grid that is connected to Maamba power station was separated from the rest of the national grid to enable completion of the transmission line upgrade works between Muzuma and Kafue Town,” Ms Banda said.

“Consequently, power from Maamba became unavailable to the national grid thereby temporarily aggravating the power deficit the country is facing. Maamba is currently only supplying parts of Southern and Western Provinces.”

Ms. Banda said the line upgrade works have been undertaken in order to increase the transmission capacity from Muzuma in readiness for evacuation of the 270 MW from Maamba as well as the additional power to be generated under Maamba Phase II.

“The transmission line upgrade works between Muzuma and Kafue Town will be completed by 11 November, 2016 when the line will be restored to service. It is expected that the current load shedding will be reduced once these works are completed.”


Source: Lusaka Times

VIT varsity inks MoU with Zambian firm

Chennai: VIT University has entered into an MoU with Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), Zambia, to enable students get hands-on training.

A press note said following the successful education imparted by VIT to 15 students sponsored by KCM in 2011 and 15 students in 2014, the Zamibian company has again sponsored 14 students this year.

This would enable develop skilled technical manpower. The MoU was signed by Steven Din, chief executive officer, KCM and Dr G Viswanathan, Chancellor, VIT University, recently.

The release said they will undergo studies on various disciplines of engineering at VIT University. Steven Din later took a tour of the campus and its facilities including the library, laboratories and hostels.

He met all the sponsored students over an interactive lunch. Konkola Copper Mines plc (KCM), one of Africa’s largest integrated copper producers, is a subsidiary of London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, one of the world’s largest diversified natural resources companies.

VIT Vice-Chancellor Dr Anand A Samuel, Pro Vice-Chancellors V Raju and S Narayanan were among those present.

(Caption: VIT Chancellor Dr G Viswanathan and KCM chief executive officer Steven Din after signing the MoU.)


Source: News Today

ZCCM-IH brings water to 3 Sinda communities

SONG and dance characterised the handover of a borehole to the Reformed Church of Zambia (RCZ) Sinda congregation by the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) recently. Even from afar the joy on the faces of the residents could be seen.

The church, which has a population of 5,000 congregants is surrounded by Mtendere, Tilitonse and Chamavu communities.

The three communities, have an estimated population of more than 10,000 people who are predominantly peasant farmers.

For some time now, access to clean and safe drinking water has been a challenge in the communities of the recently declared Sinda district and Mtendere, Chamavu and Tilitonse are not an exception.

The sources of water are mostly shallow wells which were usually shared between the people and animals and in most cases the water is contaminated, posing a huge health risk to the people.

As if that is not enough, the people here were used to walking a distance of about 2 kilometres to the nearest water point to get the commodity when most water sources nearby went dry.

“Our women woke up as early as 02:00 hours to go and queue up for water. In most cases, they came back with empty containers. This was very challenging as their lives were at risk. In addition to that, most marriages were at risk as men thought their wives were not faithful to them,” said Daniel Chamvu a resident of Mtendere community.

However, the situation is about to change as ZCCM-IH recently drilled a borehole in Mtendere community under its ‘Clean water for Zambia’ project aimed at improving access to clean and safe drinking water in many rural parts of the country.

The project which is valued at K500,000 will see 11 boreholes drilled in designated rural areas before the end of the year. So far, two out of the 11 boreholes have been drilled in Sinda.

The recently-drilled borehole will help in shortening distances that people covered in search of water.
And a resident of Chamavu community, Kawereka Banda expressed happiness at the gesture by ZCCM-IH and said the borehole will go a long way in improving the quality of life of the people of the three communities.

“Our children were not even able to go to school because of shortage of water. There was also a high number of cholera and diarrhoea cases in our communities. Now that we have water at our door step, the health of our people will improve, thereby promoting productivity, as they say a healthy community is a developed one,” he said with a smile.

Banda also said easy access to water will also spur the growth of agriculture in the area as people will not spend most of their time looking for water.

And Sinda district commissioner Rodgers Sakala said access to clean and safe drinking water is a necessary component in every country’s development.

Mr Sakala said it is the desire of the government that every household must have running water at its door step by the year 2030.

“As Government, we are alive to the many challenges that our people are facing as far as access to safe and clean drinking water is concerned. Water is very essential to the health and general well-being of our people. I am optimistic that our people here in Sinda will no longer walk long distances to access water,” Mr Sakala said.
He appealed to the people of Sinda to guard the facility jealously in order to enable other residents of the surrounding communities benefit from the borehole.

And ZCCM-IH executive director Dr Pius Kasolo said his company, in partnership with Government is committed to improving the quality of life for all Zambians by ensuring that challenges of shortage of water becomes a thing of the past.

He pledged ZCCM-IH’s continued support to programmes aimed at taking clean and safe drinking water close to the people.

“Water is life and without it life becomes difficult, government in partnership with ZCCM-IH is committed to ensuring that all Zambians have easy access to water. Once people have clean water they will have healthy and productive lives,” He said.

And another resident of Tilitonse community Elina Phiri said the gesture by ZCCM-IH has given a sigh of relief to the women of Sinda district.

She said the borehole could not have come at a better time than now when access to water has become increasingly challenging for most communities.

It is, therefore, the responsibility and duty of every resident of the three communities to guard the facility jealously so that it sustains their livelihood in the long run.


Source: Daily Mail

UNZA students win mining awards

UNIVERSITY of Zambia fourth year student Absalom Tembo has scooped the 2015/2016 Konkola Copper Mines Plc prize for the overall final year student in the School of Mines. During the School of Mines Student award-giving ceremony held on Friday at UNZA veterinary lecture theatre, James Chulombo won the Konkola Copper Mines Plc prize for the best graduating student in Geology while Katongo Kangwa came out as the best graduating student in Mining Engineering.

Absalom Tembo again got the award for the best graduating student in Metallurgy and Mineral Processing and Parson Banda won the Mopani Copper Mines prize for the best final year project in Geology.

The best final year project in Mining Engineering award sponsored by Mopani Copper Mines went to Brighton Samatemba while Kennedy Chansa was awarded the best project final year project in Metallurgy and Mineral Processing.


Source: Daily Mail