ZIMBABWE Multi-Donor Trust Fund (Zimfund) has availed a total of $35 million for the rehabilitation and reinforcement of infrastructure in the power sector this year.
Victoria Mtomba
Speaking at a breakfast meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Energy Council yesterday, African Development Bank (AfDB) Zimfund manager Emmanuel Nzabanita said donor countries had contributed $125 million to AfDB for water and electricity projects whose work had already begun.
The donor countries — including Norway, Germany and the United Kingdom — raise funds and leave AfDB to manage the money on their behalf.
“We have provided $35 million for distribution and network reinforcement and rehabilitation of Hwange. The contractors are in place and the projects are ongoing. We expect Hwange to be on course next month,” he said.
Nzabanita said a transmission meeting with the contractor would be held today, adding that Zimfund expected to provide 600 transformers in various sizes and construct lines to power stations.
In 2010, the government said it would spend at least $100 million towards the rehabilitation of Hwange and Kariba Power stations and three small thermal stations that include Bulawayo, Harare and Munyati.
Power demand for the nation was estimated at 2 000 megawatts (MW) daily against available output of 1 200MW.
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Speaking at the same meeting, Ministry of Energy and Power Development permanent secretary Partson Mbiriri said Zimfund was working towards the reinforcement of current transmission starting with Phase One before moving to Phase Two.
He said the Kariba project would take close to four years to complete.
“The key issue is financial closure — getting to sign the financial allocation. By June we should be able to close the financial deal. China Export and Import Bank is already in the country doing due diligence,” Mbiriri said.
He said the project would require $350 million or more for contingencies.
Mbiriri said Hwange went to tender and a Chinese company had been awarded the tender. The ministry is now working on how to finance the project, he said.
“We expect the project to take between 40 to 48 months from the time we close in terms of financing. We are not expecting this to be of immediate benefit.”
