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Brighton Gumbo Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce will today meet Energy and Power Development Minister Samuel Undenge to express its concerns on how the current power shortages have affected businesses.
The meeting, which is set for Harare, will also discuss the implications of power constraints to prospective investors.
Over the years, Zimbabwe has been battling acute electricity shortages due to Zesa’s antiquated equipment and lack of investment in power generation projects.
Recently, Zesa announced that the current power crisis has been exacerbated by low dam water levels at Lake Kariba.
In this light, the power utility has capped generation capacity at Kariba Hydropower Station at 475 megawatts from 750MW.
ZNCC president Davison Norupiri told Business Chronicle yesterday that the acute power deficit the country was facing is pushing away potential investors.
He said investors’ sentiments about Zimbabwe were being influenced by the ongoing power cuts.
“Tomorrow (today) we’re meeting the Minister of Energy and Power Development (Undenge) so that he can explain to us the ongoing power crisis. We would want him to give us advice on how we can best address the power situation to promote viability of local businesses and attract investors into the country,” Norupiri said.
He said a number of foreign companies who had shown interest to invest in the country were now jittery due to the incessant power cuts.
“A power crisis is very bad for the economy especially with the ill-performing industrial sector which is reeling under low capacity utilisation, liquidity crunch and stiff competition from cheap imports,” Norupiri said.
He said the power shortages were cutting across the downstream industries.
“Most firms now rely on alternative sources like generators which are more expensive. Erratic power supplies affect production and obviously that impacts negatively on overall growth prospects,” said Norupiri.
He said increased power outages would cripple industry viability and subsequent export capacity particularly for the mining and manufacturing industries.
Zimbabwe has a national demand of 2,200MW but is presently producing about 1,300MW.
According to the Zimbabwe Power Company, the country was producing 1,074MW as of yesterday.
Online Reporter