ARBAMINCH – Southern Electricity Grid Expansion is progressing as per plan and believed to supplying reliable and surplus power to the community and investors, according to Site Engineer.
Speaking to media outlets, Arbamich and Sodo project Site Engineer Andualem Melaku said that the project has reached 48 percent completion and once it is completed, the city’s current power supply capacity will be quadrupled.
Apart from providing reliable electricity for the planned Agro-Industrial Park around Arbaminch and cities, the project would benefit residents within a 120 km radius, it was learnt.
According to Andualem, the project includes the construction of a 420KM long electricity transmission line and the design, manufacturing and supply, construction, testing and inspection of three new substations, as well as the capacity building of two substations in South Omo, Wolayta Sodo, Shigdan and Arba-Minch.
The overall progress of the project has reached above forty and forty nine in Sodo and Arbaminch respectively.
He indicated that the ultimate objective of the project is to reinforcing the weak power system in southern state of Ethiopia; supplying about 180MW surplus power from Omo Sugar factories to the national grid (Steam Power Plant – Bagasse).
The projects would also provide stable power to the Omo Kuraz Sugar Factories, aside from delivering power to Arba Minch Industrial Park and residents of the town in the near future.
The power supply will enhance garnering the potential of the area for export-oriented manufacturing, fruits and ensure balanced regional development and improve quality of life in the southern state through the extension of the national power grid.
Talking about challenges, the site engineer pointed out that extended rainfall has caused delays; however, they used to work on Sundays, holidays, and night shifts to catch up.
He further stated that rapid urbanization near the transmission line routes around Arbaminch City, along with the construction of houses by squatters within the transmission line right-of-way (ROW), remains to be a challenging.
Despite preconstruction awareness creation, close monitoring and efforts at both the site and Head Office level of Ethiopian Electric Power, the issue has yet to be urgently addressed by the Gamo Zone, Arbaminch-Woreda, and Arbaminch-city administrations, respectively.
It was noted that strict weekly site meetings and monthly project office meetings are held to assess progress, identify risks and issues, and implement mitigation and corrective actions in a timely manner and ensure effective project management from the start.
The contactor is a Korean company named Hyosung Heavy Industries, the construction of the project is planned to be completed within three years and the project budget is covered by over 178 million USD loan obtained from Korea Exim Bank.
BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2024
