African Development Bank project restores electricity in Zimbabwe after the devastating Cyclone Idai
Power is back in the Eastern Districts of Zimbabwe which had been plunged in darkness for over six years following the disastrous Ciclone Idai.
Thanks to interventions supported by the African Development Bank that have restored electricity services in the precincts.
In March 2019, Cyclone Idai tore through Zimbabwe’s eastern districts with unprecedented fury, leaving behind a trail of devastation.
Among the hardest hit regions were Chimanimani and Chipinge, where the lifelines of modern life—electricity, roads, and water systems—were severed in a matter of hours.
The 155-kilometer powerline stretching from Middle Sabi to Charter, once the backbone of energy supply for Manicaland Province, lay in ruins, plunging over 300,000 people into darkness.
For more than two agonizing months, industries ground to a halt, hospitals operated without reliable power for life-saving equipment, and school computer labs stayed closed.
“The cyclone brought operations to a near standstill,” recalls Witness Teteni, engineering foreman at Charter Sawmills, a facility employing 320 workers.
“We experienced numerous power faults that severely disrupted our work. We had to rely on generators, which are expensive to run and not environmentally friendly.
The African Development Bank stepped forward with a USD 24.7 million Post-Cyclone Idai Emergency Recovery Project (PCIREP), implemented through the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the United Nations agency dedicated to implementing humanitarian and development projects, in partnership with the Government of Zimbabwe.
The goal was not just to restore what had been lost, but to provide a better, stronger, and more resilient replacement.
The electricity component of Post Cyclone Idai Emergency Recovery and Resilience Project, representing USD 3.7 million in strategic investment, focused on reinforcing 155 kilometers of 33kV overhead power lines and constructing a new 12-kilometer 33kV distribution line in Chipinge to separate the two districts’ power supplies.
It included infrastructure upgrades such as replacing wooden poles with steel, using installation techniques that help these poles better withstand extreme weather conditions.
The project also saw the supply of essential equipment, including vehicles and tools, to the state-owned Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company (ZETDC).
The African Development Bank-supported project has helped restore power to over 300,000 people.
“We have significantly reduced the number of faults in the system,” explains engineer Selina Mudzinganyama, who oversaw the rehabilitation.
“Maintenance costs have also gone down because the upgraded design is built to withstand harsher conditions. Clinics, schools, and households now enjoy reliable power, and businesses can operate without constant interruptions.”
Echoing this, Andreas Moyo, development engineer for ZETDC’s Eastern Region, says, “We now have just our normal faults. The safety, especially for these lines that we reinforced, has improved a lot. We only experience small faults now—one hour, and it’s sorted, whereas before we could easily go quite a long time without resolution.”
The African Development Bank’s Power Engineer, Seaga Molepo says the electricity infrastructure interventions under this project exemplify the critical intersection of disaster recovery and sustainable development.