Chifamba told the Mines and Energy Portfolio Committee that Biti and Mashakada's deal with Sino Hydro to expand the Kariba power station was not put to tender.
"Sino Hydro made an offer, but it jumped the gun on many issues," said Chifamba. “The feasibility studies had not been done. We were going to have problems with other Chinese partners. The only way was to go to international tender.”
Chifamba said there was no transparency in the deal. "We need maximum transparency to encourage funding. This would also give us an opportunity to evaluate the best tender and compare the services of the companies in an open manner," Chifamba said.
The southern African country currently generates less than 1,000 megawatts, against demand of more than 2,000 megawatts, a situation that has held back the recovery of the key mining and manufacturing sectors. Zimbabwe compliments local power generation with imports from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Zambia.
He told the committee there was need for "Public Private Partnerships" to boost power generation.
Post published in: News