Rural Electrification
Rural Electrification is another important and new program that the Enga Provincial Government is embarking on in its plan to improve the provision of basic services and ensure the supply of reliable electricity that can act as an impetus to drive investment in medium to large scale industries for agriculture to manufacturing, merchandising, retail and wholesale and other services such as financial and banking..
The plan is to increase electricity access throughout the province up to 50%. To do this will require the extension of the main PNG power grid to identified target areas of dense population and economic potential whilst also developing reliable hydro projects in various remote sub-districts and LLG stations which have already been identified as key target areas.
Hydro Projects
The Provincial headquater,Wabag is experiencing an unprecedented economic growth and an influx of people- mainly students coming in from all over the province to receive their education here, not to mention the building boom.
The Enga Government has realized that there will be a dire need for power when all the institutions become operational. The new Provincial Hospital alone require one mega-watt of power and the other new and existing institutions will all need improved power.
The Enga Government requested a Chinese company Guangdong Foreign Construction Company (GFCC) Ltd for technical assistance who were willing to build a Hydro Electric plant at Lomban Falls on the Lai River in Wabag and Pilikambi in Laigam District.
Lomban Hydro
The new hydro power plant will produce 7.5 Mega Watts of power, many times more than the current Wabag town’s peak demand.
The town consumes 1.2 megawatts of power but that will not be enough when the new institutions are completed to full capacity within 3 years.
Pilikambi Hydro
Pilikambi Hydro will inject 15–18 MW of power that will strengthen the grid reliability between Wabag and Mount Hagen. The development of the project will ensure the availability of reliable renewable energy throughout the grid connected areas.
Once operational, the project will extend rural electrification in the Enga Province by replacing diesel generation with sustainable, renewable energy.
Twenty-five years of stable leadership and consistent administrative machinery have resulted in EPG attracting more foreign government and NGO donor agencies to invest in all sectors in the province. ’This has been our strength and a Key strategy for addressing our development agendas.
