HARARE The joint venture project between the Zimbabwe Electricity Authority (ZESA) and Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) to revive Bulawayos thermal power station is hanging in the balance amid reports that Harare is yet to give the nod for the development.With less than two months to go before the June deadline for work to commence as agreed when the deal was signed last October, ZESA sources say bureaucracy within the Harare establishment is stalling progress.
The sources said Power Development Minister Elias Mudzuri was becoming impatient about the lack of progress on the project which was expected to see the mothballed 90 megawatt Bulawayo thermal power plant restarted by the end of June with help from BPC.
Refurbishment of the power station should have commenced in November last year but has been delayed by red tape by the Zimbabwean government.
Work should have started long back but government bureaucracy is stalling progress. We were told by the minister that he was still waiting for Cabinet go-ahead before we can proceed with the implementation of the deal, said a source privy to developments at ZESA.
He said the agreement was currently being scrutinised by the Cabinet committee on legislation.
Mudzuri could not be reached for comment last week.
Under the deal, BPC is supposed to finance the revival of the generation units, in return for 50 percent of the power produced over a period of time.
BPC agreed to inject US$8 million to revive the mothballed Bulawayo thermal power station, which has not produced electricity for nearly a decade.
The deal is similar to one agreed in 2008 with Namibia’s utility NamPower, which allowed the Windhoek-based company to invest US$45 million to rehabilitate Hwange in exchange for electricity.
Zimbabwe is currently producing 1 100MW against a peak demand of 2 000MW and imports between 300-500MW, mostly from Mozambique and Zambia.
Zimbabwe has over the years failed to attract independent power producers despite having several power projects on the cards, which if implemented would make the country a net exporter of electricity.
But an unstable political environment and lack of policies that encourage private sector investment in the sector has kept potential investors away.
A unity coalition formed last year between rivals President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has raised investors’ hopes.
ZESA has struggled to raise revenue from customers since the introduction of multi-currencies last year as part of reforms to lift the southern African country from a deep economic crisis.
Post published in: Economy