Soyo-The Minister for Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, said Tuesday in the city of Soyo, in Zaire province, that studies were underway aimed at linking Cabinda province to the national electricity grid in the medium term.
According to the minister, the interconnection will be made from the city of Soyo, Zaire province, where an undersea cable will be laid to Cabinda, or, in the second scenario, passing through the neighbouring town of Mwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The minister made this revelation at the closing ceremony of the Consultative Council of his Ministry, which took place on 27 and 28 of this month in the city of Soyo.
He noted the importance of this project with a view to boosting the availability of electricity to Angola's northernmost province, which meets the needs of its multifaceted development.
He noted that in Cabinda work was underway to boost power production capacity, with the installation of four turbines and a further two planned, totalling 75 MW.
Also on the drawing board, he said, was construction of a solar park of around 90 MW, as well as construction of a transmission line between the municipalities of Buco Zau and Belize to receive power from the grid at the Malembo power plant.
According to the minister, these projects will be a significant step in terms of electrification of this territory, in the scope of the interconnection of the electricity network between towns and cities.
Expansion of the electricity grid to rural communities in Zaire
In Zaire, the minister João Baptista Borges gave assurances that a mapping would be carried out to determine the technical needs for expansion of the electricity grid to local communes and villages.
Based on this mapping, he said, the grey areas and those localities where it was not feasible to run power lines would be determined, and the latter would be served by systems of photovoltaic panels with batteries.
He said that as soon as the mapping was done, his department would seek sources of funding to carry out the project.
He also said that construction of water collection, treatment and distribution systems in the municipalities of Noqui, Cuimba and Tomboco, in Zaire province, was on the sector's list of priorities for the next few years.
Expansion of power grid to Bengo province
In the same context, he said, in Bengo province the project for electrification of the Dembos triangle was launched a few days ago, which is being coordinated by the provincial government, with the support of the relevant Ministry.
He made it known that the programme will serve four municipalities of this region which will be interconnected to the national electricity grid.
