ZESCO has agreed to put an additional 500 Kilovolts power substation In Kitwe’s Chisokone market to adress the on- going frequent power outages in the market.
ZESCO North Region Senior Engineer Lewis Chileshe said the market has been experiencing power outages due to the insufficient capacity of the current power supply transformer.
Speaking when he led Kitwe District Commissioner Lawrence Mwanza, Kitwe Mayor Mpasa Mwaya and the council senior management team on a conducted tour of the existing old transformer installed in the market, Mr Chileshe said the number of marketeers using power at the market has increased over the years and the existing transformer cannot meet the demand hence the constant power outages being experienced.
And Kitwe District Commissioner Lawrence Mwanza urged Kitwe City Council and ZESCO to expedite the process of installing an additional transformer in the market to prevent the current power outages.
Mr. Mwanza noted that Chisokone market has grown and the current transformer cannot sustain the current power demand.
Mr. Mwanza also expressed worry over the increased illegal power connections which he said is causing the frequent cases of infernos in the city’s biggest market.
“It is important to have an additional transformer because Chisokone market has grown and the transformer which is there cannot handle the current demand and now you find that there are a lot of illegal connections which are overloading the current transformer causing power outages which people are complaining about, so the Chisokone issue needs to be looked at quickly to prevent a possible disaster,” He said.
Kitwe Town Clerk Patrick Kambita said the council wants to address the challenge of power outages being caused by the power overloads and illegal connections.
He said the local authority also wants to have the marketeers segmented in terms of the quantity of power they use to prevent power from tripping off.
And Kitwe District Association of Vendors and Marketeers Chairperson Astone Sakala thanked ZESCO and the council management for the decision to install an additional transformer as the current power outages are disrupting business those that deal in fresh foods that need continuous refrigeration. ZANIS
