CONSTRUCTION of a 54 megawatt (MW) solar power plant in Kafue at a cost of US$60 million has started.

An Indian firm, Sterling and Wilson, is undertaking the construction works.

Sterling and Wilson head of human resource for northern region Atul Goyal said the project, which will be on a 52 hectare land, will be completed within eight months.

Mr Goyal said this on Wednesday when he paid a courtesy call on Zambia’s High Commissioner to India Judith Kapijimpanga at the Zambian chancery in New Delhi.

“President Lungu directed the Industrial Development Corporation to urgently drive the development and installation of at least 600MW of solar power countrywide, to tackle the power deficit in Zambia,” Mr Goyal said.

This is contained in a statement issued yesterday by first secretary for press at the Zambian mission in India, Bangwe Naviley.

Mr Goyal said the project is important as it promotes clean energy and will result in skills transfer.

And Ms Kapijimpanga said investing in Zambia’s energy sector is a good move by Sterling and Wilson, especially that electricity tariffs are now cost-reflective.

“The project will not only profit over two million residents of Lusaka and Kafue but Zambia as a whole and the eight neighbouring countries,” she said.

Ms Kapijimpanga said the mission will fully support the project because Zambia is in a hurry to develop.

“Zambia has managed to avoid conflict which has marked much of Africa’s post-colonial history, earning itself a status of a politically stable nation,” she said.