Norway will extend technical and financial assistance for the revival of the Kikuletwa hydropower station which has been dormant in the last 30 years.
The Nordic country has granted 29 million Norwegian kronors (about $5 million or Sh8.2 billion) for project preparation following an agreement signed by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dar es Salaam and the ministry of Finance in July this year.
The power station, located in Hai District, Kilimanjaro Region, has been operated by the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) but was last year handed over to the Arusha Technical College (ATC).
The signing of a grant agreement followed visits to Arusha and the site by experts in hydro-electricity technology from Norway for initial assessment of the power station which used to generate 1.5 megawatts before it stopped in 1984.
“The project will have two components: establishing a training centre for hydro-electricity and reconstruction of the power station,” the project manager and coordinator, Mr Daniel Ngoma, told The Citizen on Sunday.
The envisaged training centre is the brainchild of ATC and, according to the official, aims to train local experts to spearhead the promotion and development of mini-hydro power plants across the country.
“This is where most of the support from Norway will be channelled to,” Mr Ngoma explained, noting that the massive rehabilitation of the power station for production of electricity will have to be met by the government or other donors.
He could not explain exactly when actual implementation of the project will commence but remarked: “Consultants from Norway and their local counterparts are on the final stage. This includes the change of the title deed of the plot from Tanesco to ATC.” The power station, which records indicate was first built by the German missionaries in the 1930s and upgraded in the 1950s and adjacent structures, covers 358.5 acres. It is located at Rundugai some 15km off the Arusha-Moshi highway.
The site has the old power plant which used to generate electricity from the water falls, buildings and residential houses which are dilapidated, workshops, waterways and a catchment area.
“We have started to clean up the area in readiness for the project start-up,” Mr Ngoma, who is a tutor at ATC, said, adding that technical drawings and designs of the envisaged power station and assessment of the old plant and other structures would be ready by the end of January. ATC rector Richard Masika said although they were aiming at constructing a power station that could generate 1.7MW, when fully operational, the plant would have the capacity to produce up to 17MW.
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