Businesses and other crucial services are expected to pick up following the commissioning of power generators which will increase the country’s national power grid by 55 megawatts.

Speaking after commissioning the 36 gensets at Chichiri Escom power house in Blantyre President Mutharika said,this is just a short term solution to the intermittent power supply the country is experiencing.

According to Mutharika, his government plans to increase power supply by using coal as well as solar energy in addition to the current hydro power energy.

Despite the 55 megawatts installed in Blantyre, Lilongwe has also had 20 megawatts installed in Lilongwe, and 23 more megawatts will be installed in Kasungu soon.

Currently the country generates 351 megawatts of hydro power.

Among other factors, inadequate hydro electricity generation arose from low water levels on Lake Malawi and reduced flows on Shire River.