Wina apologises over 5-day ZESCO blackout

By Ann Zulu

VICE-PRESIDENT Inonge Wina says Government sympathises with companies and residents that lost business and property in the five provinces that suffered a massive power outage that lasted several days this week.

VICE-PRESIDENT Inonge Wina 

ZESCO recently suffered a major system failure which resulted in loss of power supply to Muchinga, Northern, Eastern, Luapula, Central, parts of Copperbelt and North-Western provinces for five days.

The incident happened when the 330kv Kabwe-Pensulo line tripped at Pensulo substation in Serenje after lightning struck the powerline, causing severe damage to ZESCO infrastructure.

Ms. Wina told Parliament today during the Vice-President’s Question Time that this was one of the most severe natural calamities that the country had ever experienced.

She noted that a lot of people and companies had been severely affected by the power outage and that the damage to ZESCO property was estimated at US $1.5 million.

However, Ms. Wina said she was relieved that works on the power line had been concluded and power had been restored.

The Vice-President was responding to a question by Chitambo Member of Parliament Remember Mutale who wanted to know what Government felt about the companies and families who had lost goods and property as a result of the power outage.

 “Government sympathises with the people and companies in the five provinces that were affected by the power outage. This has indeed been a big disaster for those five provinces and the cost of this damage is estimated at US $1.5 million. Thank God, power has been restored,” she said.

She thanked the affected people for their patience and understanding during the power cut.

Ms. Wina apologised for the inconvenience and damage that the loss of power supply had caused, stressing that Government was concerned about the whole incident.

“I wish to say that Government is very concerned about the damage to a lot of infrastructure, business and many other things in the five provinces that were affected,” she said.