Construction of new Zimbabwean power plant to start soon
http://www.esi-africa.com/node/14090
Harare, Zimbabwe — ESI-AFRICA.COM — 24 January 2012 – The French
consortium which has been granted a licence by the Zimbabwean government to
build a US$3 billion thermal power plant in the country is in the process of
finalising preparations to commence construction.
Revealing this to New Ziana, energy and power development minister Elton
Mangoma said that
when complete, the 2,000MW project which was being rolled out over the next
four years was expected to alleviate the country’s worsening power woes.
Currently, the country’s sole power utility, Zesa Holdings, is producing
about 1,400MW against a national demand of over 2,000MW per day, leaving a
shortfall which has to be imported.
With the economy now recovering from a decade of contraction caused by
sanctions by some Western countries, demand for power is rocketing.
The new power station will be situated in the Lusulu coal fields at Binga,
in the Matabeleland North province of Zimbabwe. The coal fields have an
estimated 1.2 billion tonnes of coal reserves.
Minister Mangoma went on to say that more firms were showing interest in
investing in the country’s power sector. “People are always making inquiries
and it is a good thing for our country that we have people willing to invest
in this sector. As Government we will always welcome new investment,” he
added.
With Zimbabwe facing a critical shortage of power, the government is also
pursuing the expansion of the existing power stations at Hwange and Kariba
to boost supplies. The Batoka Gorge project is another one in the pipeline
set to offset the country’s power woes once implemented.