Load shedding in Zambia to stay

THE answer to Zambia’s electricity crisis does not seem to be anywhere near.

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I have followed with glee, how desperately the management of the local power utility firm has been at pains to explain their inadequacies at work.

Zambia is not the only country in Southern Africa faced with energy shortage. South Africa, for instance faces a much bigger challenge and the economy of that country is running smoothly anyway. The impact of power shortage is almost non-existence. But our situation here in Zambia seems to be faced with a management challenge.

Look, Zambia was hit by a countrywide power blackout last year. As if that was not enough, history, with its tendencies, repeated itself early this year.

The situation now is that some Townships in Zambia are experiencing long hours of darkness and most industries are not able achieve mass production because of intermittent power supply.

Fine, there is a load shedding programme published in the press but our experience with this programme has been that it existence only ended on that same piece of paper.

Many households and factories have lost their hard-earned electrical appliances and machines because power is switched off at the will of ZESCO and this is vexingly abrupt.

The reason for all the power load shedding and blackouts is largely because of low capacity to satisfy the local demand. Hey, but what has perplexed most people here in Zambia is that ZESCO Limited, the firm at the centre of this controversy has continued to export power to other countries apart from estranged Zimbabwe. They say the Zimbabwe connector is responsible for short-circuiting Zambia and hence, the country blackouts.

The cost of doing business in Zamia has increased, the prices of essential commodities such as food and transport have gone up and everything seems to be going astronomical.

Local economic critics have hinted that Zambia’s quest to attain a six percent economic growth will remain a pipe dream if the electricity problem stays with us.

ZESCO has remained a monopoly in this industry and I think we have the energy problems largely because of that reason.

We are told that the situation shall only normalize by the year 2010, but come on, that’s a long time to wait and we do we expect of our economy?

Our dear ZESCO was aware of the looming power shortage many years ago and they continued to be in that dead slumber of sleep. They should have foreseen this and planned proper investment way in advance.

It is because they have power 24hours a day or is it because they do not pay bills why they say the power problem is not that bad.

Maybe if they stand in the shoes of the common, they will join me.