The Ministry of Energy has disclosed plans of Engaging the Democratic Republic of Congo with the view of tapping into the Great Inga River to improve hydro electricity Power generation in Zambia.
Minister in charge Matthew Nkhuwa says his ministry is looking to diversify the sources of water to improve the water levels in the Kariba by creating canals.
Mr. Nkhuwa is of the view that canals will be a cheaper way of improving power generation than building a power plant.
He says in an interview that the Kariba is supposed to be producing 990 Megawatts of Electricity, but only produces 390 megawatts because of the low water levels.
The Energy Minister says all the machinery to build the canals is available and all that is required is to find where to get the water to fill up the Kariba from.
He says besides the great Inga river in Congo, another possible source is Lake Bangweulu.
Mr. Nkhuwa says his Ministry is therefore in talks with the Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation so conduct a feasibility study of the possibilities of using canals to feed into the Kariba.