.YALUMA

By HELEN ZULU –

GOVERNMENT has said there is an urgent need for diversification in the energy sector in order to meet the demand for power in the country and beyond.
Mines, Energy and Water Development Minister Christopher Yaluma said there was need to diversify from the current  arrangement to using other sources of energy to remain self sufficient.
Mr Yaluma, who acknowledged that steps were being taken to address loadshedding, said the country had abundant sun and water to diversify to other sources of energy.
“There is need to diversify from our current arrangement  to using other sources of energy, let’s look at renewable energy because we have?abundant sun and water as our source,” he said.
He said strides were being taken to control the challenge of aggressive loadshedding that had hit the country for several years now.
Mr Yaluma was speaking during the intergovernment Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) meeting for the development of hydro-power sites on the Luapula?River.
He said Zambia needed inter connections with neighbouring countries to exploit the massive water bodies that the country was?endowed with.
Mr Yaluma said the MoU would help Zambia forge ahead by maximising the potential and opportunities presented by hydro- power sites along the Luapula River.
“Our strides can be seen from what we are doing here today, the MoU between our Government and the DRC Government will help us forge ahead?by maximising the potential and opportunities presented by hydro- power sites along the Luapula River,” he said.
He observed that Zambia needed power on a large scale to satisfy the growing demand in the mining industry and extract the much needed copper to spur economic growth.
Congolese Minister of Energy and Water Resources chief member of staff Thaddee Nkieti said the MoU would enable the two countries?address the issue of load shedding in their respective countries and produce abundant electricity for export in the Southern African?Development Community region.