The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Farawo —
Parliament is expected to soon ratify the US$1,4 billion Hwange Thermal Power Station Expansion Project which was signed between Zimbabwe and China earlier this year, it has been established.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa submitted official project documents to Parliament recently. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development Mr Patson Mbiriri said the financial closure is expected to be complete in the next two months.
“We are hoping that we will have financial closure in the next month or two. Most of the conditions have been met. The challenge that remains is in respect to our arrears with Sinosure and possibly China Eximbank but otherwise most of the requirements have been met.
“Most of the agreements have been initialised and we are looking forward to it,” he said.
Mr Mbiriri said the Hwange expansion will ensure enough and reliable power supply for the country.
“That would then take us well onto the road to generating enough power in the country. It will be the significant step in addressing the current deficit.
“Importing is but a temporary solution. In any case, there is inadequate power in the region and therefore there is limit to what we can import,” he said.
Mr Mbirimi said the country cannot run the economy using generators or power imports.
“Power is such a strategic service that we cannot build our economy on the basis of imports. At the very least we should be self-sufficient and invest in being able to export our surplus capacity so Hwange will give us the chance to reach this milestone.
“The total deal is about US$1, 48 billion.”
“The deal is expected to be ratified by Parliament and the Ministry of Finance has managed to submit the papers to the August House for that process to take place.
“After Parliament has ratified it, we will link up with the Chinese Government. It’s one of the conditions. If we are able to find a way around the arrears, we will be able to complete the deal.”
Upon completion, the power station is expected to add 600 megawatts to the national grid. Currently, Hwange is producing an average of 600 MW against installed capacity of 920 MW owing to obsolete equipment, among other challenges.
In line with Zim-Asset, Government embarked on various power generating projects which are expected to be completed by 2018.
The projects are expected to plug energy deficit which has mainly affected the agriculture, manufacturing and mining sectors – the mainstay of economic growth. Zimbabwe requires about 2 200 MW daily, but currently generates an average of 1 200MW and imports the difference.
ZESA has also attributed the power shortages to theft and vandalism of equipment which is costing the power utility about US$50 million annually in repairs and replacements.
More than 1 500 distribution transmitters are reportedly damaged and over 5 000 kilometres of conductors are stolen every year. The power utility is owed over US$1 billion by creditors.
