By Wendell Roelf
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Construction of a new $780 million power line linking Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya was expected to start towards the end of 2011, and be operational by 2015, a senior Zambian government official said on Friday.
About 1,447 kilometres long, the high voltage transmission line will start at Serenje in the south of Zambia, snake along to Mbeya and Arusha in Tanzania before landing in Kenya's capital Nairobi.
"The total cost of the project is estimated at $780 million out of which $380 million will be (the) section in Zambia, $310 million in Tanzania and $90 million in Kenya," Israel Phiri, manager at the Office for Promoting Private Investment at Zambia's Ministry of Energy and Water Development told Reuters in response to emailed questions.
"It is hoped that resource mobilisation would be completed towards the end of 2011, and construction would commence thereafter," Phiri said, adding that the transmission line was expected to be completed three years later.
The line, which will eventually have a power transfer capacity of 400 megawatts, is seen as a strategic project capable of enhancing electricity trade and improving power supply. All three African nations face power supply constraints which could impede economic development. >>>
