The Tanzanian government is fast-tracking the procurement of emergency generators to cope with the ongoing power rationing that stops electricity supply for up to 11 hours a day for probably until the end of this year.

Tanzanian Energy Minister Laurence Masha has promised to the public that the government had already started the process of procuring emergency generators from abroad and that the government is making sure that the importation of the generators would not be delayed.

The energy minister said that the government would try to end the power shedding in three months time.

The Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited said on Wednesday before starting on Thursday the nationwide power rationing that the power shedding would have to continue till the end of the year when emergency generators were expected to be in place.

The company is the sole electricity supplier in Tanzania.

The company managing director, Adriaan van der Merwe, said that the procurement, shipping and installation of the emergency generators would take at least four to six months.

Local English newspaper The Citizen on Friday quoted the energy minister as saying that his ministry would do all it could to resume normal power supply as soon as possible.

The emergency electricity generation relief is expected to last for a year before the current generation deficit, caused by continuous severe drought in recent years, improves.

Source: Xinhua