HH Commissions Kafue Gorge Lower Hydro Power Station

Fellow citizens,

Today, we commissioned the 750+12MW Kafue Gorge Lower Hydro Power Station (KGL) in Chikankata District in the Southern Province. We expressed our profound gratitude to the Chinese Government, Sino Hydro, ZESCO workers, and other construction staff for this phenomenal engineering achievement that will go a long way to ending load-shedding, which had become an annual feature in our country.

We thanked the local community for preserving the Kafue River Basin and urged them to guard the facility jealously. We, therefore, implored ZESCO to prioritize local people as the principal beneficiaries of the KGL station, through the provision of power and jobs.

We called upon Zambians not to be misled over the export of surplus power to our neighbors, because electricity has been a shared resource for a long time, due to our historic ties with partners such as Zimbabwe and Malawi. We can also benefit from foreign exchange earnings through the export of power in the coming years, as we generate revenue to create jobs and enhance the economy.

We asked the Chinese Ambassador to Zambia, His Excellency Du Xiaohui, to convey our appreciation to the President of the People's Republic of China, His Excellency Xi Jinping, for their ongoing support on projects of mutual importance.

Hakainde Hichilema

President of the Republic of Zambia