EMMANUEL MWAMBA SUGGESTS THAT THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BATOKA GORGE POWER PLANT IS IN DISCRIMINATION OF DEVELOPING NORTHERN REGIONS OF ZAMBIA IN POWER PRODUCTION AND SUGGESTS CANCELLING PROJECT

EMMANUEL MWAMBA SUGGESTS THAT THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BATOKA GORGE POWER PLANT IS IN DISCRIMINATION OF DEVELOPING NORTHERN REGIONS OF ZAMBIA IN POWER PRODUCTION AND SUGGESTS CANCELLING PROJECT

By Shalala Oliver Sepiso

This morning Emmanuel Mwamba wrote a social media posting in which he suggested to “shelve the Batoka Hydro-Power Project” and “take the Project where there is assured water” suggesting the Northern Region of Zambia.

He further said construction of Batoka Gorge was an act of ‘insanity’. “… it is said that Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Emmanuel Mwamba’s criticism comes in the wake of revelations that the $5 billion Batoka Gorge Hydro-Electric Scheme (BGHES) is back on track following a major funding commitment and a shift in the project’s development model.

On December 30, 2025, the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) announced that Zambia and Zimbabwe had each committed $220 million ($440 million total) to the project. This allocation is officially integrated into the 2026 budget cycles of both nations to specifically fund the construction of the dam. Following the cancellation of previous contracts, a new bidding process is underway. Bids are expected by April 2025, with final selection of a new project developer targeted for late 2025 or early 2026. A resource mobilization committee has also been established to secure further funding for the 2,400 MW facility.  In late 2023, UNESCO granted permission for the project to proceed despite environmental concerns regarding its proximity to Victoria Falls, a World Heritage site. To mitigate the impact on the gorge, the project will follow a “run-of-river” operating regime to minimize ecosystem disturbance.

In the new dispensation, the project has shifted to a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, exploring equity partnerships to enhance bankability rather than relying solely on traditional debt. Zambia cancelled the original 2019 contract with General Electric and PowerChina in 2024, citing a lack of transparency and irregular procurement. The current “reset” aims for a more transparent and legally sound tendering process.

Despite all these developments, Emmanuel Mwamba suggests that the project be shelved and development be taken to the north. His suggestion of shelving the project is not well thought and goes against logic, research, data and facts.

Firstly, while northern rivers like the Kalungwishi and Chambeshi have high, reliable water volumes, their development for large-scale (multi-gigawatt) hydropower is constrained by the region’s flat topography.

Large-scale hydropower requires a significant vertical drop (elevation head) and deep gorges to create high-pressure water flow. The Chambeshi River flows across a high-altitude plateau with a very gentle gradient (dropping only ~590m over 500km) before entering the flat Bangweulu Swamps. Constructing massive reservoirs in these flat landscapes would require flooding enormous areas of land to achieve even a modest “head,” leading to massive displacement and environmental damage.

Because they lack deep natural gorges, these rivers in the northern regions of Zambia are better suited for run-of-river projects or smaller micro-hydropower stations rather than massive storage dams.

Several planned projects in the northern regions, like on the Kalungwishi River, have been planned to utilize its natural waterfalls (like Kundabwika and Kabwelume) for run-of-river schemes totaling ~247 MW. This is way too little While significant, this is much smaller than the 1,000+ MW capacity of deep-gorge sites like Kariba or Kafue.

More importantly, Northern Zambia is far from the country’s primary industrial and mining centers in the Copperbelt, North-Western and even Lusaka. Building the necessary hundreds of kilometers of high-voltage transmission lines through difficult terrain to connect northern sites to the national grid is a multi-billion dollar hurdle.

So how does Emmanuel Mwamba propose to resolve these issues?

Does it make sense to shelf a 2,400MW plant and start construction of a 247MW plant which has no support infrastructure like transmission lines and all?

What he also misses, is that, since he says the Southern Region faces droughts, these new projects are simply trying to maximise usage of the same water in what is called cascaded generation.

Cascading is not failing. It is simply using the same water twice or three times to generate electricity and that’s efficiency.

For Zambia this will mean same water being used for generation at Vic Falls (108MW), Batoka (1200MW) and then Kariba North Bank (1080MW) i.e. 2388MW before we add the planned Gonye Falls (180MW). Remember the same water will also generate in Mozambique at Caborabasa.

Cascading is already happening on Kafue River. The same water is being used to generate power 3 times at Itezhi Tezhi (120MW), Kafue Gorge (990MW) and Kafue Gorge Lower (750MW) i.e. 1,860MW.

What Emmanuel Mwamba needs to understand, is that most power plants being constructed now (whether solar, coal or hydro), are being done near already existing power transmission infrastructure such as high voltage transmission lines and substations to avoid duplication of costs, overloading the systems and having bottlenecks and even transmission losses. And this was a decision taken by the colonial government, UNIP, MMD and even PF.

Mwamba should remind himself that these decisions made by the colonial government, UNIP, MMD and PF has resulted in almost all the power in Zambia produced in the Southern Region of Zambia and this is where the critical support infrastructure is:
1. Kariba North Bank 1080MW (Siavonga District)
2. Kafue Gorge Lower 750MW (Chikankata District)
3. Victoria Falls 108MW (Livingstone District)
4. Kafue Gorge 990MW (Chikankata District)
5. Maamba 300MW with another 400MW coming. (Sinazongwe District)
6. Itezhi Tezhi 120MW (Itezhi Tezhi District)

Even some of the major proposed major stations are there in the Southern region because if the reason of factors favouring the locations i.e.

1. Ever Great in Sinazongwe District (600MW)
2. Mulungwa African Coal Power Plant in Sinazongwe District (300MW)
3. Cooma Solar in Choma District (120MW)
4. Batoka in Kazungula District (2400MW)

To try and now make it sound like the UPND is doing it at the expense of the northern regions is not only mischievous but malicious and not nice to see.