Addressing journalists in the capital today, Mangoma said that his ministry had made progress on the expansion of the Kariba South and Hwange Power stations, among other projects.
Mangoma said the measures, coupled with the introduction of the smart orprepayment metering system would help reduce load shedding this winter season.
“The Zimbabwe Power Company and Sinohydro have concluded negotiations for the 300MW Kariba South Expansion Project. As a result, Sinohydro has commenced work at the site. The adjudication process for the 600MW Hwange Expansion Project has been completed and the project was awarded to CMEC of China.
“Work is expected to commence before the end of the year. A diesel plant (84MW) that has operated for 100 hours has been identified at a capital cost of 37 million euros. This is about 50 percent of the cost of a new plant,” said Mangoma.
He added that the ZPC had made a technical analysis which revealed that diesel generators have the capacity of reducing load shedding by 80MW.
Mangoma said that the 30MW Gairezi small hydro-power plant was at design stage and would be launched this month.
He added that government had signed memoranda of understanding with two Chinese companies, China Railway International and China International Fund, to develop a 1, 000MW thermal plant.
China Railway International came for site investigation in December
2012 and has submitted a draft contract for the project development, said Mangoma.
On long term projects to mitigate the power situation in the country, Mangoma said his ministry was considering the Batoka Great Inga Hydro projects for electricity generation expnasion.
“Zambia and Zimbabwe have agreed to undertake this project on a Build Operate and Transfer basis. This was after Zimbabwe agreed to honour the EXCAPCO assets debt of $70,8 million. So far a total of $40 million has been paid towards the $70,8 million,” said Mangoma.
“The Zambezi River Authority called for expressions of interest to develop the Batoka on a Build Operate and Transfer basis. The response was extremely good with 25 companies showing interest and the majority from credible international organisations,” said Mangoma.
He said that the Great Inga project in the DRC had the capacity to produce 100, 000MW of power and, when established, would significantly aid the southern African region.
Mangoma said the restructuring of ZESA Holdings which was approved by Cabinet in March would make the power utility more efficient and responsive to the consumers.
He added: “The generation of the Hwange Power station has improved significantly with an average of five units. This has allowed the Zimbabwe Power Company to carry out upgrade works and preventive maintenance at the Kariba Power Station without causing major power shortfall to the system.”
Mangoma expressed optimism that the prepayment metering system would improve revenue collection while influencing behavior change among consumers on the use of electricity.
He said that as of yesterday, a total of 150, 000 prepayment meters had been installed for both domestic and commercial users.
“Measures to consolidate the power availability and reliability will continue. Such measures will include taking out plant for preventive routine maintenance and equipment upgrade,” said Mangoma.
Post published in: News