Calvin Manika
THE Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) managing director Wellington Maphosa has said US$9million is urgently needed to unlock the much needed US$310million loan facility.
Maphosa revealed this during a tour of Hwange Power Station by the minister of Energy and Power Development Zhemu Soda on Thursday.
His visit comes barely a month after Provincial Affairs minister Richard Moyo visited the project to monitor progress.
Maphosa said the US$9million deficit was needed before July 21.
However, Soda promised to look into that and reiterated that government was committed in providing stability in the energy sector. He added that the US$9million funding problem will be expedited.
“The energy sector is part of the government key pillars in achieving government’s objectives. The deficit issues will be dealt with expeditiously so that the project smoothly runs to completion in time,” said Soda.
The project site manager Engineer Forbes Chanakira while presenting the overview of the Hwange Expansion Project said it was aiming at generating 600 megawatts (2x300MW).
According to the baseline schedule, the first (300MW) unit was supposed to be on commercial operation on October 2021 while, the second (300MW) unit with the same capacity on January 2022. However, due to the effects of Covid–19 pandemic, the completion has been re-scheduled to July and September 2022 respectively.
Engineer Chanakira cited Covid-19 and IPC payments as key reasons for the project delay.
“Covid-19 affected the project on design, manufacturing and logistics and manpower mobilisation, while IPC payments also affected areas to do with manufacturing and logistics and manpower mobilisation of key skills for installation,” said Chanakira.
After the meeting with the HESCO officials, Soda who was accompanied by Matabeleland North Provincial Development Coordinator Sithandiwe Ncube representing the Resident Minister toured the expansion project site.
Hwange expansion project is a joint venture of Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) and Sino Hydro Corporation Ltd run by a Hwange Electricity Supply Company (HESCO).
The project is now 64% complete and is one of the flagship programmes of the Second Republic aiming to augment the current available power with possibilities of exporting excess power.
