By The Respondent reporter
The Managing Director of Tanesco,
Lazaro Twange, isn’t in the business of making excuses—and he’s not accepting
any either. On July 23, deep in the heart of Iringa, he kicked off a two-day
inspection tour of the ambitious Tanzania-Zambia (TAZA) power interconnection
project.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with field
engineers and project supervisors, Twange delivered a message that was as firm
as it was focused: finish strong and finish on time.
“Supervise the contractors
diligently. Don’t manage them out of habit—manage them with urgency. People are
waiting.”
His tone wasn’t harsh, but it
carried weight. It came from someone who has seen how delays on paper ripple
out into daily life—communities left in the dark, businesses slowed, trust
eroded. For Twange, timelines aren’t bureaucratic checkboxes. They’re promises
made.
The visit covered key
transmission line works across Iringa and Njombe, along with the development of
the Tagamenda and Kisada substations. Standing amid the scaffolding, cables,
and dust, Twange didn’t just inspect—he listened. He engaged with supervisors,
asked direct questions, acknowledged the hurdles they faced, and offered no
empty praise.
To him, the dry season is not
just a climatic advantage. It’s a brief window of opportunity that must be
seized. The message was simple: no dragging of feet.
“There’s no better time to push
ahead than now. We can’t afford to lose this momentum.”
And momentum there is.
Transmission line construction has already passed the 60% mark. Substation work
is catching up, now at 31%. But for Twange, percentages mean little without
progress you can feel. His focus is not just technical—it's human.
He later visited the Cotex substation
in Iringa and the Makambako site in Njombe, both undergoing major upgrades.
These projects are nearly complete, already pumping reliable electricity into
surrounding areas. Here, his tone shifted slightly—from commanding to
reflective.
“I’m pleased with what’s taking
shape. We’re now in a position to serve more customers—and serve them better.”
But behind those words was
something deeper: the satisfaction of seeing infrastructure become real, not
just in diagrams and dashboards, but in lit-up homes and growing towns.
For Twange, these aren’t just
substations—they're milestones in a much larger story. The TAZA project itself
is a strategic leap forward. Once completed, it will connect Tanzania’s grid to
Zambia’s, enabling cross-border electricity trade through the Southern Africa
Power Pool.
That vision isn’t lost on Twange.
He knows the regional weight this project carries. But he’s equally attuned to
what it means locally: fewer outages, more stability, and a shot at
energy-driven growth.
As the visit wrapped up, Twange
remained steady in his call for discipline and delivery. He offered
encouragement, but made it clear that the finish line is non-negotiable.
“This is about more than
infrastructure. It’s about delivering real results to real people. That’s what
success looks like.” And just like that, he was off to the next site. No
ribbon-cutting. No staged photo ops. Just a man on a mission to get things
done.
