79725

Project of official development aid, solar energy for Meloco

Grant approved by SLOVAK-AID, UNDP (80% investment 198.190,-USD); the Contract was signed on October 04, 2006 with project duration of 1 year.

Project responsibility

EKOSOLAR spol. s r. o., Ltd. (20 % investment 41.000,-USD)
Jaroslav Korvín (company owner, executive director)

Project Manager

PLOP Slovakia
Antonio Martins da Silva, Executive Director
Juraj Kóša, Project Manager

Associate Institution of beneficiary in Africa

ADICAE Mozambique
Antonio Pasarinho, President; Eneas Emanuel Eduardo Arone, Local Coordinator

Intention of the project

Building-up of the photovoltaic system for production of electric energy with power output of 8.5 kW for objects of school, hospital, administrator, police, and public rooms.

We were in Africa

We left for our first project consulting preparation on 14 November on the flight Vienna - London - Johannesburg - Maputo. Arrival to Vienna was on 25 November on the same route. In Maputo we met Antonio Martins da Silva, who arrived from Angola ahead of schedule. In Angola he is covering another project. On the basic of executed schedule of visits in Maputo, which were arranged by him, we had a meeting with people of partnership organization Adicae, with Dr.Leonardo S.Simäo, the director of governmental foundation for country development in Mozambique. These meetings were all held in sincere and friendly atmosphere with the large support for the project success. After these decisions we flew by domestic line to the town Pemba, which was 3000 km away. We stayed in a nice seaside resort and we started to discover a real Africa. We met a director of providence for power industry in Pembe Carlos Ussene Ali. Our meeting was so successful that on the basis of information we decided village Ocua for the place of realization and decided for change in project realization to the far village Meloco. The reason was the discovery that the government approved the finances for village Ocua electrification two weeks ago. Village Meloco will not have electrification for minimum 20 years and it is only 70 km far. To the place of project realization – village Meloco we had to go another 300 km in rented off-roader. On the way we stopped in village Ocua, where we made sure that our project would not be effective. Last 80 km to the village Meloco we had to go on the dusty road, we had several stops, where we knew local people and their culture. The big experience for us was when we stopped in one unknown village with the simply huts of bamboo covered by mud and with thatches. When we stepped out of the car the local people mobbed us with the typical African singing and dancing, performed with whistles and drums. Apparently, they saw the white people for the first time. Our guide explained that this is the way how they take pleasure from the arrival of teenage girls and boys after 1 month separation in wild bush. It was some adulthood test. After arrival to Meloca we saw and documented the objects of schools, hospital, buildings of administrator, police buildings and public buildings, which were mostly brick buildings with the roof of corrugated plate, so the placement of power collectors will be places on the roof. Village Meloco has around 3000 inhabitants and it is sub-region for school and hospital for approximately 15000 people. In the village there is a building where the diesel aggregate was and nowadays it is an office for the local policeman. There is no electricity in the village. In the hospital there is only one small fridge for placing of vaccines and powered by photovoltaic panels installed in 1997 by some Spanish foundation. The equipment was almost served out and after we found out that the power collectors were turned upon the east (which was not correct) they are now placed on the ground and fenced. Through the village we were guided by local people, administrator, policeman and other bodyguards so our safety was ensured on the highest level. By village visitation they took us to the biggest problem, which is the lack of drinking water. The only source was the whole at the bottom of the dried river similar to our Váh River. The river is filled with water only in the rainy season, most of the year it is dry. At the bottom of the river which is only hundreds meters from the village were a few decades of people crowded around the whole and waiting for water to fill their plastic jerry-cans. They were often waiting whole day in the burning sun. We will try to solve this problem by building the water well in our next project. After these discoveries we are going to prepare the material for project realization, we will load the container and send it by boat. In 2007, sometimes in September we will go to install it and we will spend 2 months with native inhabitants of Mozambican village Meloco at the end of civilization.