Tanzania to Face Power Rationing Due to Drought

According to  Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) managing director Maharage Chande, some areas are set to suffer 9-hour outages.

The country has the capacity to generate nearly 1,695 megawatts through hydropower, natural gas, and other means but it is currently facing a shortage of between 300 and 350 megawatts.

“There are two major reasons which have caused the shortages in a generation: prolonged drought and ongoing maintenance in some of our plants,” Chande told reporters in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam on Wednesday.

Chande Explained that one of the impacted facilities is Kihansi in the southeast Morogoro region whose output has decreased from 180 megawatts to barely 17 megawatts.

Awoman watering her animals to cool their bodies in Tanzania. PHOTO FILE

“Water levels have decreased in most sources, forcing our plants to generate below their capacity,” Chande said.

Tanazania is currently working to enhance its hydroelectric capacity, especially through the contentious Julius Nyerere dam project that is now being built in the Selous Game Reserve and will eventually generate 2,100 megawatts.

Tanzania, like its neighbors in East Africa, has been experiencing scant rainfall and delayed monsoons, which prompted Dar es Salaam's authorities to implement water restriction last month due to a drought-related decline in water levels.

Cracked part of the soil due to lack of water. PHOTO FILE

The worst drought to hit Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia in four decades has destroyed cattle and crops due to four failed rainy seasons.