Maputo, Aug. 13, 2025 (Lusa) - The President of Mozambique on Wednesday guaranteed that the country will achieve universal access to energy by 2030, with the capitalisation of the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant (HCB), the country's largest electricity producer, and also using alternative energies.
"Mozambique is committed to universal access to energy by 2030, with an integrated strategy that combines development of the energy market, industrialisation and attracting investment, capitalising on Cahora Bassa and Mphanda Nkuwa as drivers of economic transformation and the creation of internal value," said Daniel Chapo.
The head of state was speaking today in Mozambique at the opening of the general assembly of Africa50, a continental mechanism that finances the construction of infrastructures and which is taking place under the slogan ‘Mozambique and Africa50: Uniting Infrastructures, Connecting Continents and Transforming Lives’.
For the aforementioned universal access to energy, in addition to the HCB, one of the largest dams in Africa, and alternative energy sources in which the country is investing, Mozambique is also going to invest in the Mphanda Nkuwa dam project, a development to be made up of a hydroelectric plant with a production capacity of 1,500 MegaWatts (MW) and a high-voltage transmission line of between 1,350 and 1,400 kilometres, between Tete, in central Mozambique, and Maputo, in the south.
Chapo praised the government's efforts to expand electricity, with access to electricity increasing from 31% to 62% of the population since 2018, having exceeded 400,000 new connections per year in the last two years.
To continue expanding access to electricity, Chapo said, Mozambique has also moved forward with regional and global agreements, citing, as an example, the Mission 300 initiative, led by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), which aims to bring energy to 300 million Africans by 2030, with the Mozambican head of state confident in Africa50's new financing packages for energy projects.
"We are currently developing innovative transactions with Africa50, focused on energy, digitalisation, regional integration, transport, logistics, with one-stop border posts, supported by the African Continental Free Trade Area, present here at the highest level. Each of these initiatives promotes employment, economic diversification and the sustainable development of Mozambique and SADC [Southern African Development Community]," said Chapo.
Africa50 was created by African governments and the AfDB to bridge the infrastructure financing gap in Africa by facilitating project development, mobilising finance and investing in infrastructure.
It currently has 37 shareholders, including Mozambique, which joined the financing mechanism last year.
Also today, the Mozambican president announced that the country will host the Presidential Infrastructure Investment Forum in the coming months, with a focus on energy projects, including power transmission lines, economic and logistics corridors, digitalisation and continental connectivity.
At the opening of Africa50's general meeting, agreements were signed in which the group will finance the construction of three 840 KV electricity transmission lines in Mozambique and the construction of a data centre in the Mozambican capital.
As explained by the chairman of the board of directors of Electricidade de Mozambique (EDM), Joaquim Henriques Ou-chim, the agreements will guarantee the construction of a line from the Metoro district in Cabo Delgado province, connecting with the Marrupa district in the province of Niassa, with a capacity of 220 kilovolts (KV).
The second line will run from Chumuarra, in Zambézia province, to the region of Inhaminga, in Sofala province, with a capacity of 400 KV, and the last, with a capacity of 220 KV, will connect Metoro, in Cabo Delgado, to Namialo, in Nampula.
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