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As construction of the Julius Nyerere hydro project accelerates, the human resource succession plan to maintain the plant and its sustainability is an important component that energy sector stakeholders are working on.
Arusha Technical College (ATC) has put together a program that will produce more than 600 artisans and technicians who will service the 6.5tri / – power project to ensure it produces 2,115 megawatts of electricity as planned, in addition to other renewable projects including, among others to wind, solar and biomass.
Under the Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Project contract, the power plant will be completed in mid-2022.
Being the strategy to address the technical skills gap in the industry and energy sectors, Arusha Technical College intends to install a 1.7 megawatt power plant at Kikuletwa in the Hai district to be used as a hub simulation to impart technical skills to your students.
The Kikuletwa Renewable Energy Research and Training Center is another ATC campus specifically for energy training.
Speaking exclusively to the ‘Daily News’, ATC Acting Chancellor Dr. Musa Chacha said his team toured the JNHPP in Rufiji to get a picture of technical skills gaps as they planned to set up a training center in Kikuletwa.
“Visiting JNHPP was a must … we wanted to have a field experience and then a reflection on our program,” said Dr. Chacha.
Through the East Africa Regional Integration and Transformation Skills Project (EASTRIP), the Arusha Technical School hopes to train academic staff and students from the energy sector in hydropower; and other renewable energies that include but are not limited to biomass, wind and solar.
“Under the East African Regional Integration and Transformation Skills Project (EASTRIP), the Arusha Technical College has received around US $ 16.25 million to increase student enrollment to 643 in the phase,” said the EASTRIP project coordinator, engineer Sithole Mwakatage.
Of that number, 30 percent of the students who will enroll in the EASTRIP program will be women, a deliberate plan to address a gender gap in the field.
Eng Mwakatage said that JNHPP was a megaproject that would need more trained people to ensure its sustainability, so ATC is ready to repair the gap through EASTRIP.
Ms Jane Lissa, among the ATC staff who visited the project, said that she had witnessed the progress of the hydroelectric megaproject and believed that the achievement of the JNHPP would ensure the sustainability of the industrial economy.
Meanwhile, JNHPP interim resident project engineer Lutengano Mwandambo said the contractor was in the final touches on the diversion tunnels and that work would be completed by the end of October this year.
Engineer Mwandambo added that excavation work in the area, where a power plant would be built, was progressing well.
The flagship mega energy development project, funded 100% by the government at a cost of 6.55tri / -, started in June last year and is scheduled to be completed in the next two years.
The 2,115 megawatt power project will be the fourth largest dam in Africa and the ninth in the world.
Africa’s largest dam is Ethiopia’s Renaissance, which is under construction, with 6,450 megawatts expected upon completion in 2022.
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Dr. Kalemani told parliament, while presenting budget estimates for 2020/21, that electricity generation increased to 1,601.84 megawatts in April this year compared to 1,308 megawatts in 2015.
The works carried out during 2019/20 since it began in June, last year, are the construction of the main dam and the diversion tunnel, projected to be completed in June 2022.
Presenting the 2020/21 budget estimates in Parliament, Energy Minister Dr. Menard Kalemani said that a total of 1.44tri / – was set aside for various works on the project, including tunnel construction and the house. of machines, as well as the maneuvering yard.
The project is being built along the Rufiji River, coastal region through a joint venture of Egyptian companies, Arab contractors, and El Sewedy Electric Co.
