Cabinet restores Kariba’s US$700m power tender
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
October 5, 2012 in News
CABINET on Tuesday reversed a decision by the State Procurement Board (SPB)
to cancel the tender for Kariba South’s US$700 million expansion programme
which had been awarded to Chinese firm Sino-Hydro.
Report by Staff Writer
Sino-Hydro was the sole bidder for the project, but had failed to win the
tender after disagreements with the SPB over a site visit certificate and
bid bond which is issued as part of a bidding process by the surety to the
project owner, to guarantee that the winning bidder would honour the
contract under the terms on which it bid.
Sources said the Chinese firm’s bid was restored after stormy debates in
Cabinet on Tuesday.
Before cabinet overruled the SPB’s decision to cancel the Sino-Hydro tender,
Energy and Power Development minister Elton Mangoma had complained of the
cancellation saying it was unfortunate that flimsy reasons were being given
as the basis for cancellation of such an important national project.
Once fully operational, the Kariba South plant is expected to provide an
additional 300 megawatts to the national grid by 2016, and commission a
massive 800MW at the Batoka Gorge four years later if funding is secured.
Zimbabwe is only capable of generating about 1 200MW of the peak national
demand of about 2 2000MW, and government’s decision to restore the deal is
part of its efforts to curb a crippling power shortage that has stalked the
country, particularly in the past five years.
The country’s industrial capacity utilisation stands at an official 60%,
raising fears the power deficit would worsen should capacity utilisation
improve.
Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority chairperson Canada Malunga last month
said the new energy policy acknowledged the role of renewable energy sources
and the power regulator was working on an Independent Power Producers policy
framework.
The regulator has licensed various large electricity generation projects,
investing in 11 new projects with a combined capacity of about 5 400MW
valued at US$10 billion.
Zimbabwe’s power shortage has resulted in numerous outages for domestic and
business consumers, affecting government projects aimed at helping boost
economic revival.
Zimbabwe plans to raise power output to 10 000 megawatts in line with the
National Energy Policy.