(Dar es Salaam) – The government has acknowledged that the ongoing power outages in Dar es Salaam are the result of efforts to strengthen the city’s electricity infrastructure. These disruptions have affected several areas, including Mkuranga, Dege Kigamboni, Mbagala, and Gongo la Mboto. The outages have been particularly noticeable over the past three days, with new transformers being installed in key areas as part of efforts to improve power supply.
On November 18, 2024, the Deputy Minister for Energy, Judith Kapinga, visited the Kinyerezi One power plant to review the progress of electricity projects in the city. She explained that electricity consumption in Dar es Salaam has been rising sharply, leading to an increased demand for power. This has necessitated several infrastructure improvements in order to meet the growing needs of both residential and industrial users.
Kapinga noted that there have been complaints from residents of affected areas who are experiencing interruptions in their daily activities due to the power cuts. She assured the public that these outages were temporary and were part of planned upgrades to enhance the reliability of the electricity supply.
“Electricity usage has been growing rapidly, and that is why we have been implementing projects to improve the power supply in Dar es Salaam regularly,” Kapinga said during her visit. “You might have wondered why the power was switched off for three days recently, particularly in areas like Mkuranga, Dege Kigamboni, Mbagala, and Gongo la Mboto.”
In response to these challenges, the government is working on projects aimed at improving power availability. One of these projects involves the installation of two large transformers at the Kinyerezi power station, each with a capacity of 175 MVA, to expand the facility’s capacity. Additionally, an upgrade to the transmission line from Kinyerezi to Gongo la Mboto is underway, increasing the capacity from 50 Megawatts (MW) to 150 MW.
Kapinga further explained that there are plans to upgrade the power substations at Mbagala and Gongo la Mboto. These upgrades will include the addition of a 120 MVA transformer to meet the increasing demand in these areas.
“We are aware that residents in these areas have been complaining about low power supply, which has affected their daily activities, including running appliances like irons. We are working to improve the power situation in these areas,” Kapinga said.
The Deputy Minister emphasized that there is enough electricity to meet the demand, but some areas are facing shortages because the infrastructure has struggled to keep up with the increasing consumption. According to Kapinga, the rapid growth of industries, particularly in Mkuranga, has contributed to the rise in electricity demand.
In support of this, the Managing Director of Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco), Gissima Nyamo-Hanga, pointed out that Dar es Salaam not only serves its own population but also supplies power to neighboring regions, including the Coast and Zanzibar. As a result, the city’s electricity demand is considerable.
“The demand for electricity has been rising significantly due to the expansion of industries, especially in Mkuranga,” Nyamo-Hanga explained. “In the past, electricity demand increased by about 6% annually. However, this has now risen to 16% between last year and this year.”
He added that the power disruptions over the last three days were part of ongoing maintenance and infrastructure development at the Kinyerezi power plant. During this period, Tanesco reduced power distribution across the city in order to carry out necessary repairs and prepare the plant for integration with the new, larger transformers.
“We had to reduce electricity distribution in Dar es Salaam for these three days as we were working on the equipment at the Kinyerezi power station to ensure the new transformers were connected and operational,” Nyamo-Hanga said.