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Neglecting environment and power rationing embarrassment
2006-01-17 08:39:25
By Editor
Some parts of Dar es Salaam have been supplied with electricity only at night and experiencing complete black out from 12.00 am to 7.00 pm.
This has been going on for over a week, prompting us to believe that power rationing has already begun.
Other parts of the city have experienced shorter periods of black out that, however, were not less than six hours a day.
The city centre has not been spared, as shop, hotel and office buildings have had to use standby generators so as to keep their businesses going.
There is no official statement regarding the on going power rationing but if we are to be honest, there is no way we could avoid power rationing and it seems we will have to put up with it until the long rainy season begins.
News that some parts of the Southern Highlands region started receiving rain since mid-last week is more than welcome.
It has rekindled hopes among Tanzanians that the end of the drought is in sight after all and this would not only assure us of continued supply of electricity, but also a sufficient harvest of food crops.
Electricity from hydropower stations accounts for only 40 percent of the country’s total supply of electricity and one would think that with 60 percent of the supply coming from other sources, there would be no need for power rationing.
Apparently it is more expensive to generate electricity from the other sources like gas and diesel, hence the power rationing.
Yet it is no use lamenting about the current situation of inadequate electricity supply and instead we should find out where we have gone wrong and what we should do to avert a similar catastrophe in future.
Unfortunately this is not the first time we are experiencing power rationing.
Records show that this is the third time we have found ourselves in this problem in a span of about a decade.
We think that TANESCO has made one major mistake over the years, that of thinking that water is an infinite resource that would always be available and in the quantities they require.
So the company did not take measures to protect the water sources to guarantee themselves a reliable supply, the vagaries of climate not withstanding.
One might wish to know what TANESCO and indeed the government, have done to conserve and protect The Great Ruaha River, which supplies water to Mtera and Kidatu dams.
How much have they invested in the conservation of the environment along this river?
At most TANESCO has only been producing electricity using whatever amount of water that was available without due concern on the future situation. That is how we have found ourselves where we are.
No-one has thought of developing other sources of electricity besides water, even after experiencing water shortage in power generating plants from time to time.
There are alternative sources like gas, coal and solar, which could have been developed over the years and so avoid the inconvenience of raising power tariffs even when the supply is so irregular.
We think that it is time authorities looked at the issue of electricity supply in the country more soberly.
At stake here is the economy of the country and the social welfare of Tanzanians.
Last week when the Minister for Environment Prof. Mark Mwandosya accompanied Prime Minister Edward Lowasa for a visit at Mtera dam, he suggested that more areas in the source and catchment of The Great Ruaha River should be turned into reserves.
This would assure TANESCO a continuous flow of enough water to the dams.
We agree with the Minister’s suggestion but we are afraid that demarcating more reserves would not take us anywhere near the solution to the problem.
We have in mind the creation of the Usangu Game Reserve in 1998, that was meant to protect the reservoir, Ihefu, from human activities particularly those of farmers and livestock keepers.
The Ihefu is the lifeline of The Great Ruaha, the heart that used to pump water to keep the river flowing throughout the year.
To date, the boundaries of the Usangu Game Reserve are yet to be marked and thousands head of cattle roam around the Ihefu at will.
No single authority can claim ignorance of what is happening there.
So it is not really how many reserves we curve out, rather how much we are prepared to enforce the rules and regulations governing these reserves.
It all amounts to how much importance we put on the environment.
In 2002, former Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye declared the government’s intention to restore perennial flows of The Great Ruaha by 2010. At that time it used to stop flowing for about four months during the dry season.
We think this is the right moment to find out how much the government has done to realize this intention and whether we are on track to meet the deadline.
Definitely we have to do more and fast, if we are to have regular supply of electricity from Mtera and Kidatu dams and so rid ourselves the embarrassment that goes with power rationing.
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