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Work has started at the Kariba South hydro power plant expansion project where more than 500 people have been employed. The 300MW project to cost more than $500 million, was commissioned by President Robert Mugabe last September and is expected to be complete by March 2018. The project is one of the many projects under the mega deals signed by President Mugabe during his 13th State visit to China last year.
The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) said this week that significant progress has been registered at the Kariba South expansion project and locals are already enjoying the benefits. It said contractors working on the project are drawing the unskilled labour from locals and so far 533 people have been employed. The number is expected to increase to 700 workers as work progresses. The power company said the local business community was also benefiting from the ongoing work on the project and to date five local companies have been subcontracted by Sino Hydro which is undertaking the project.
The development of a robust energy infrastructure and job creation is at the heart of government’s five-year development programme guided by its economic blueprint, Zim-Asset. Sino Hydro has also been awarded the 600MW Hwange expansion project which will cost about $1,5 million.
Other projects under mega deals signed by President Mugabe during his visit to China include the dualisation of the country’s major trunk roads such as Beitbridge–Harare, Harare-Chirundu, Harare-Mutare and Harare-Nyamapanda, construction of a new railway line from Harare to Beira in Mozambique and construction of Kunzvi dam to augment Harare’s water supplies.
The start of work at some of these projects has silenced prophets of doom who had dismissed the mega deals as another set of agreements whose documents were going to gather dust in the shelves.
It is now evident that the implementation of these projects is definite and will have a significant impact on the economic turnaround. Infrastructural development such as construction of roads, bridges, railway lines and expansion of power generation will no doubt spur economic growth.
The completion of these major projects will therefore raise Zimbabwe’s profile as an investment destination. Many investors want to invest in a country where there is adequate electricity, water, good road and railway networks. The country already boasts of a highly skilled manpower hence Zimbabwean workers are sought after the world over.
The country is therefore poised for growth much to the chagrin of its detractors. We have said it before that what is needed is just a shared vision so that each and every Zimbabwean plays his or her role in growing our economy. Zimbabweans should be in the driving seat when it comes to new investments and the coming in of foreigners should just be a bonus.
We want at this juncture to implore Zimbabweans to focus on development and avoid being detracted by our enemies who are always painting a gloomy picture of our economy. Let us therefore brace for an economic boom as we implement the mega deals projects.
Online Reporter