Malawi – Rehabilitation of the Kapichira and Nkula Hydropower Plants (AFDB-P-MW-FA0-012)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Malawi
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • African Development Bank (AFDB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Nov 12, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Government of Malawi
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Hydropower
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Grant
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 22.94 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Grant Amount (USD)
$ 22.94 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 118.75 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ AFDB website

Updated in EWS Apr 16, 2026

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the AfDB, the objective of the project is to increase the reliability and efficiency of electricity generation in Malawi and thereby contribute to socio-economic growth through affordable and sustainable power supply. The project will rehabilitate the electro-mechanical systems of the 129.6 MW Kapichira hydropower plant and replace and rehabilitate critical systems at the 100 MW Nkula B hydropower plant. Once completed, the rehabilitation is expected to restore and stabilize annual generation capacity (estimated at over 1,200 GWh combined), reduce outages and technical losses, strengthen the financial sustainability of EGENCO, and enhance climate resilience of hydropower infrastructure. The project contributes directly to expanding renewable energy supply, improving energy security, supporting industrialization, and facilitating Malawi’s integration into the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).

The Rehabilitation of the Kapichira and Nkula B Hydropower Plants Project is a sovereign investment operation aimed at restoring the operational reliability and efficiency of two major hydropower plants in Malawi. The project is implemented by the Electricity Generation Company of Malawi (EGENCO) under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy and aligns with Malawi 2063, the Malawi Energy Compact under Mission 300, and the Bank’s “Light Up and Power Africa” priority.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

As stated by the AfDB, the total project cost amounts to UA 87.44 million (USD 118.75 million equivalent). Financing is structured as parallel co-financing between the African Development Bank Group and European partners. The African Development Fund (ADF-16) provides a grant of UA 16.89 million (USD 22.94 million) to finance the rehabilitation of Kapichira I. The European Union contributes a USD 44.4 million grant, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) provides a USD 48.9 million loan to finance the replacement and rehabilitation of Nkula B. The Government of Malawi contributes approximately USD 2.52 million in cash and in-kind. 

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated on the company's website, EGENCO is a company that generates electricity in Malawi. EGENCO operates four hydro power stations: Nkula, Tedzani, Kapichira and Wovwe.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Electricity Generation Company (Malawi) Ltd (EGENCO) Contractor Energy

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

AfDB Team Leader:

Mundia Simainga
Email: m.simainga@afdb.org 

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/request-for-documents. Under the AfDBÕs Disclosure and Access to Information policy, if you feel the Bank has omitted to publish information or your request for information is unreasonably denied, you can file an appeal at https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/appeals-process

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF AfDB

The Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), which is administered by the Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (CRMU), is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an African Development Bank (AfDB)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the IRM, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a dispute resolution dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the AfDB complied with its policies to prevent environmental and social harms. You can submit a complaint electronically by emailing crmuinfo@afdb.org, b.kargougou@afdb.org, b.fall@afdb.org, and/or s.toure@afdb.org. You can learn more about the IRM and how to file a complaint at: https://www.afdb.org/en/independent-review-mechanism/ 

How it works

How it works