Botswana and Zimbabwe intend to engage in projects that will result in mutual economic co-operation between the two Southern African Development Community (SADC) neighbours.Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego Kedikilwe (pictured) and Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met in Gaborone last Saturday and discussed the Hwange Colliery Power Station project from which Botswana wants to import power and in return help Zimbabwe exploit its vast coal deposits.
Minerals, energy and water resources spokesperson Mpho Kerapeletswe said that the duo focused on how best the two countries can cooperate to mitigate the effects of the prevailing power supply and demand mismatch.
She said that the two leaders looked at previous failed attempts to work out satisfactory arrangements that would have made it possible for Botswana to import power from Zimbabwe, through the exporting of coal from Morupule Colliery.
According to Kerapeletswe, Premier Tsvangirai said the power deficit was partly due to Hwange Colliery’s inability to produce sufficient tonnage of coal to power five units. The colliery is only able to produce sufficient coal to keep two units operational. The station, she said has six generators – 1 to 4 with a capacity of 120 MW each and 5 to 6 with capacity of 220 MW each. She said that Tsvangirai revealed that the colliery’s assets are in a state of disrepair, especially the dragline that excavates coal, due to lack of spares.
“He said that as of now, Zimbabwe does not have sufficient financial resources to recapitalise the mine. Optimum output of the mine is about 9,000 tonnes a day, compared to the present actual of about 2,000 tonnes. Tsvangirai also said that output of between 6,000 to 7,000 tonnes per day would be acceptable,” she said.
Kerapeletswe said in a press statement that the Zimbabwean premier proposed that Gaborone should explore the possibility of Botswana companies which have suitable equipment for mining that might be idle, to move their plant to the Hwange Colliery to assist with the coal mining activity, on the understanding that there was to be equitable sharing of costs and benefits among all the stakeholders.
“The meeting follows an earlier one that Minister Kedikilwe held with Zimbabwe’s Minister of Energy on possibilities of power generation and transmission to Botswana. The two ministers met during the SADC meeting for ministers responsible for water in Maputo, Mozambique, in July. At that meeting, the ministers tasked their technical teams to explore the possibility of Botswana and Zimbabwe through their two utilities, ZESA and BPC of rehabilitating existing infrastructure in Zimbabwe for purposes of power generation and transmission,” she explained.
The task teams were to report to the two ministers once their investigations were complete. Consequently, the Botswana team, including BPC officials, is in Harare.
Once the report is ready, Kedikilwe and his Zimbabwe counterparts are expected to meet in Francistown to chart the way forward.
She said that Tsvangirai revealed that Zimbabwe has huge coal deposits close to the Botswana border, estimated at one billion tonnes and that Zimbabwe is exploring the possibility of developing a 4 X 500MW power station using a refurbished plant from France.
Mmegi Online
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