Five minerals and energy ministers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region have reaffirmed their commitment to ensure sufficient capacity within the region, South African government news agency BuaNews reported on Friday.
The ministers from Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Namibia and South Africa met in Johannesburg on Friday morning and signed an agreement on the Western Power Corridor Project (Westco).
Westco is a joint project put together by the countries’ national power utilities. It is aimed at providing low-cost and environment-friendly energy. The project is also aimed at ensuring the SADC’s economic development is not hampered by shortages in energy capacity.
The project will see the construction of a 3 500 MW Inga hydro-power station in the DRC and a hybrid of interconnections of transmission power lines for the supply of power to the five countries.
”After the signing, a company will be formed that will take this project forward. It is anticipated that other countries in the east of the region and beyond that are interested in joining will be afforded an opportunity to participate in this project,” South African minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
Meanwhile, SADC states are on track to end the use of leaded petrol and change to unleaded petrol as agreed in terms of the Dakar declaration signed in 2001 by sub-Saharan African states.
Lead is a toxic poison that affects human health and has the greatest effects on undernourished children.
”To harmonise the changeover, supply chain logistics are important and all countries need to work together to address this issue. However, there is a need for regional harmonisation of other technical specifications to facilitate cross-border trade and tourism,” Mlambo-Ngcuka added.
A technical committee of experts will meet in December to discuss such fuel specifications. — I-Net Bridge