The unit 5 of the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station in Zambia began full operation on March 24. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By Staff Reporters

On March 24, unit 5 of the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station in Zambia began full operation. Built by Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA), the hydropower station has an installed capacity of 750 MW.

Zambia's President Hakainde Hichilema thanked Chinese people for their support on his social network, saying that, "[This is a] phenomenal engineering achievement which will help job creation & go a long way in ending load-shedding."

According to a hair salon owner in Lusaka, the capital and largest city in Zambia, power blackouts would last for several hours every day before the hydropower station went into operation, which had a huge impact on her business, as her customers had a long wait before getting service.

The hydropower station has greatly improved the situation, and the hair salon is beginning to flourish, along with several new shops opening up on the same street. 

During the construction of the hydropower station, POWERCHINA also spared no effort to help enhance the livelihood of local people, including building roads and bridges, digging wells and opening skill training schools. In addition, around 15,000 jobs were also created.

Gift Kapanda, one of the beneficiaries, was first enrolled in the training school opened by POWERCHINA in 2017, and later became a technician at the hydropower station, participating in the installation and debugging of electrical equipment of unit 4 and unit 5.

The Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station is a flagship cooperation project between China and Zambia under the Belt and Road Initiative, and also the largest infrastructure project in nearly 40 years. Apart from satisfying the electricity needs of Zambia, the hydropower station could also help to export electricity to neighboring countries like Malawi and Zimbabwe.