Energy Minister Dora Siliya has revealed that the Kariba dam will require at least three good rainy seasons to fill up.
This means load shedding will continue for at least three years.
Siliya explained that the just commenced rainy season will not do much to raise the low water levels in the Kariba dam.
She was speaking Sunday evening when she featured on ZNBC TV’s Sunday Interview programme.
“I think we have reached a point where we need to be brutally honest with our people that this crisis will not go away tomorrow because even these rains we have experienced today (Sunday) in most parts of the country won’t fill up the Kariba. We will need more than three years of good rainfall to fill up the Kariba,’ Siliya stated.
And Siliya disclosed that Government has intensified the importation of electricity from neighbouring Mozambique.
She also says her ministry is speeding up processes to facilitate the construction of inland power generation sites around the country.
“We are currently spending colossal amounts of money on power imports and we are adding a further 100 Megawatts from Mozambique this December to cushion the problem but going forward we are concentrating on inland power generation through the construction of mini hydro stations,” she said.