By By Zephania Ubwani The Citizen Reporter
In Summary
Arusha. It is now official. Norway will extend
technical and financial assistance for the revival of the Kikuletwa
hydropower station which has been dormant in the last 30 years.
The Nordic country has granted 29 million
Norwegian kronors (about $5 million or Sh8.2 billion) for project
preparation following an agreement signed by the Royal Norwegian Embassy
in Dar es Salaam and the ministry of Finance in July this year.
The power station, located in Hai District,
Kilimanjaro Region, has been operated by the Tanzania Electric Supply
Company (Tanesco) but was last year handed over to the Arusha Technical
College (ATC).
The signing of a grant agreement followed visits
to Arusha and the site by experts in hydro-electricity technology from
Norway for initial assessment of the power station which used to
generate 1.5 megawatts before it stopped in 1984.
“The project will have two components:
establishing a training centre for hydro-electricity and reconstruction
of the power station,” the project manager and coordinator, Mr Daniel
Ngoma, told The Citizen on Sunday.
The envisaged training centre is the brainchild of
ATC and, according to the official, aims to train local experts to
spearhead the promotion and development of mini-hydro power plants
across the country.
“This is where most of the support from Norway
will be channelled to,” Mr Ngoma explained, noting that the massive
rehabilitation of the power station for production of electricity will
have to be met by the government or other donors.
He could not explain exactly when actual
implementation of the project will commence but remarked: “Consultants
from Norway and their local counterparts are on the final stage. This
includes the change of the title deed of the plot from Tanesco to ATC.”
The power station, which records indicate was first built by the German
missionaries in the 1930s and upgraded in the 1950s and adjacent
structures, covers 358.5 acres. It is located at Rundugai some 15km off
the Arusha-Moshi highway.
The site has the old power plant which used to
generate electricity from the water falls, buildings and residential
houses which are dilapidated, workshops, waterways and a catchment area.
“We have started to clean up the area in readiness
for the project start-up,” Mr Ngoma, who is a tutor at ATC, said,
adding that technical drawings and designs of the envisaged power
station and assessment of the old plant and other structures would be
ready by the end of January. ATC rector Richard Masika said although
they were aiming at constructing a power station that could generate
1.7MW, when fully operational, the plant would have the capacity to
produce up to 17MW.
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