Lesotho government intends to implement strategic interventions to reduce power demand in the country by 12 percent in December this year.

The Minister of Natural Resources Mr. Monyane Moleleki said this when officially opening the 30th Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) Management Committee meeting held in Maseru on Wednesday.

He said the government will embark on power conservation programmes through possible channels to customers on effective use of electricity in the country.

Mr. Moleleki said the Ministry will undertake a technical study at its hydro power station at 'Muela for increased power generation.

He assured members of SAPP that Energy Ministers will provide continued political and financial support to ensure that shortage of power is addressed.

The Minister encouraged them to consolidate a road map and a time frame that will be used for proposed measures to overcome the prevailing situation.

Speaking at the same occasion, SAPP Management Committee Chairperson, Mr. Nathaniel Maphathe said the Southern African region is facing numerous challenges and that power imbalance is currently the most eminent.

He added that power supply deficit that member countries are now experiencing has been caused by among others, economic growth of more than five percent in SADC countries resulting to unprecedented growth in electricity consumption and demand.

He further said another factor is increased demand for base metal resulting in high prices on the world market with new mining companies being established within the region in the last few years.

'Lack of adequate investment in both generation and transmission infrastructure over the last 20 years in order to maintain the required supply and demand of power balance is another challenge.'

Mr. Maphathe stated that the meeting will deliberate on interventions and formulate an optimal recovery plan on the supply and demand side aspects of the industry as well as to provide investment incentives to all investors in power sector, both locally and internationally in an effort to address the situation.

He added that Energy Ministers will be briefed on the outcome of the meeting at a meeting to be held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo next month.

SAPP is an organisation of 12 countries of Southern Africa represented by their respective national power utilities. It was established in 1995 through the SADC treaty to optimise the use of available energy resources in the region and support one another during emergencies.

The meeting started on Monday and ends on Friday.

Source: LENA 05/03/2008