KARIBA - Zambia and Zimbabwe have failed to resolve differences over ownership of the Kariba Power Station assets following the decision to split them in 1987, a Zambia Electricity Supply Authority Corporation (Zesco) official revealed to The Zimbabwean last week. The official, who refused to be named for fear of breaching protocol, said the dispute had dragged on for close to 25 years because the Zimbabwean government refused to pay Zambia a single cent for the extra assets located on its land. Since the dissolution of the Central African Power Corporation (COPCO) in 1987, no progress has been made about the asset ownership and payments by the Zimbabwean government. Zimbabwe has got most of the assets and this disadvantages Zambia. This is very unfair considering that Zambia also contributed huge resources towards the construction of the dam, said the official.
The Zambian government is contemplating taking the issue to Hague because Zimbabwe will not negotiate. Efforts to get a comment from Elton Mangoma, the Minister of Energy and Power Development were all in vain.