Botswana approves cross-border power project with Zambia

Cross-border infrastructure development with Botswana has lately topped the agenda in discussions in Zambia. A specific example is the approval by the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) to construct the Zambia-Zimbabwe-Botswana-Namibia hydropower inter-connector.
ECZ's approval of the construction of the electricity inter-connector would ensure collaboration between the Zambia Electricity Corporation (ZESCO, the Botswana Power Corporation and two other utility companies in Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Zambia, which has more than 40 % of the water in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region, has the potential to export power to neighbouring countries. Zambia has applied for a loan to the World Bank for the development of the Kafue Gorge Lower, which will have a capacity to produce about 700 MW of power. The project would not only benefit Zambia, but other countries that depend on power imports such as Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Further power generation can be harnessed from Itezhi Tezhi on the Kafue River and Kariba North Banks on the Zambezi River whose feasibility studies have already been conducted. Itezhi and Kariba North Bank respectively require $ 120 mm and $ 300 mm to develop.

Apart from these two, Zambia can generate power from Kalungwishi and when Kariba North Bank, Itezhi Tezhi, Kalungwishi and Kafue Gorge Lower are developed, the country can have an additional 1,383 MW. Zambia's other potential in power generation lies with Luapula Province, which has several waterfalls including the little-known Lumangwe, Zambia's second largest after the Victoria Falls.
Experts estimate that Lumangwe can generate up to 350 MW of power, sufficient for Luapula that can support a steel plant as the area had vast manganese deposits. The rest of the power can be channelled to the national grid or exported to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Zambia would need massive resources in order to develop its hydropower potential in the form of foreign financingand locally acquired resources. Just Kafue Gorge Lower requires about $ 1.5 bn to develop.
Locally, ZESCO would generate resources through tariffs. It is for this reason that ZESCO applied to the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) to increase electricity tariffs by 66 %. ERB has allowed ZESCO to raise tariffs by 35 % for both domestic and commercials users.

Developments in the electricity sector have come at a time Zambia has embarked on the development of the fibre optic throughout the country. Already, the Communications Authority of Zambia (CAZ) has approved licences to ZESCO and the Copperbelt Energy Company (CEC) to be the carrier of carriers.
CEC, which collaborates with the private sector in Botswana, buys electricity on retail from ZESCO and supplies to mining companies at a higher price. ZESCO has completed putting down the fibre optic from Western Province via Kazungula on the border with Botswana through Lusaka and the Copperbelt to Lumwana in the fast-growing North Western Province. Besides,CEC has also completed fixing the fibre optic covering all the Copperbelt towns.

The ultimate goal is for the fibre optic to be connected to neighbouring countries including Botswana for effective and efficient transmission of data and high reliability. Once the fibre optic has been completed, it has been estimated that data transmission costs would be reduced by between 40 and 50 % of the current ones.
The optic fibre that would be extended to neighbouring countries from Zambia is part of the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), which will cover more than 9,000 km under the Indian Ocean from Durban in South Africa to Khartoum in Sudan.