THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has revealed that the construction of the 85km 132-kilovolt (kV) transmission line from the Alaska substation to the Karoi station is completed.
In December 2024, the bank availed US$18,76 million in financing to the Zimbabwean government for the construction of the transmission line, which was implemented by the Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company (ZETDC).
Financing for the transmission line came from AfDB’s African Development Fund and Fragile States Facility, which provided US$526 000 and US$18 236 000, respectively.
Back in 2023, the Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion ministry revealed that national electricity infrastructure required US$2 billion.
The lack of energy infrastructure is part of the reason Zimbabwe is facing daily power outages that have caused a massive power deficit of nearly 1 600 megawatts (MW), against a demand of 2 000MW.
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“(An) 85km length transmission line was constructed and commissioned successfully. (An) 84km length of access roads were established to access the transmission line corridor,” AfDB said in its completion report for the project.
“The mission was informed that avoidance of harm to property is being done, and route clearance was conducted only when crops had been harvested.
“As a result, the number of Project Affected Persons identified as eligible for compensation reduced from 35 to eight and seven of the eight (87,5%) have been compensated.”
The bank said the access road to the new Karoi substation was established and was being maintained.
“Two new transformers were installed at the new Karoi substation. Five 33kV substation bays were constructed and commissioned at Karoi substation,” AfDB said.
“The existing 33kV lines near Karoi substation were successfully rerouted.
“The substation bay at Alaska substation was equipped with new equipment and successfully commissioned.”
According to the bank, project resources were used efficiently since the project delivered more outputs than expected within the original budget of US$20,69 million, which was comprised of US$18 762 000 from the bank group and US$1 928 000 from counterparty financing.
“Actual commitments at time of the Project Completion Report mission totalled US$19 128 562,20 (comprised of US$17 729 069,92 from bank financing and US$1 399 492,28 from counterparty financing), which translates to a commitment rate of 92,4% and a ratio of the median percentage physical implementation to commitment rate of 1,08 and a rating of highly satisfactory,” the bank explained.
NewsDay Business understands that the project took nearly four years longer than estimated at appraisal to be completed.
This was due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a delay of about three years in the appointment of the engineering and supervision consultant.
“Following the initial delays with the appointment of the engineering and supervision consultant, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a major re-programming of the project activities was undertaken to put the project activities on a fast implementation track,” the bank said.
“As such, the implementation progress has been largely successful, with all the project activities carried out on budget, scope and timely in accordance with the revised implementation schedule.”
On the main project component, the bank said this would continue to generate sufficient income for ZETDC, but warned that financial resources for the maintenance of this project would be needed.
“However, provision of adequate financial resources for maintenance of the assets and therefore, sustainability of the development outcomes poses a challenge in the medium term due to the continuing weak financial performance of ZETDC,” AfDB said.
“Under the financing, sufficient consumable spare parts for maintenance of the assets over the long-term horizon was provided as part of the construction contract.
“However, the spares are fungible and the use of same spare parts for the maintenance of other parts of the power supply networks is most likely due to the shortages that ZETDC faces in maintaining its overall network. Sustainability of the development outcomes would remain at risk.”
