dyton mupawaenda
Leonard Ncube-Victoria Falls Reporter
THE long awaited development of the Lubimbi coal-bed methane gas field in Matabeleland North is still being pushed hard by Government, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said.
The project will use wireless electricity transmission technology, a probable world first. A traditional ceremony was held two years ago in the Mashokotsha area, Lupane to mark the start of the big methane gas project in Siwale Ward 1.
Local investor Lubimbi Power and Gas, in partnership with Discovery, which is a holder of a special grant in the area, has done the process of producing the environmental impact assessment.
The project has the capacity to use the methane to run a modest gas power station, starting with the generation of 5MW in the first two years and expanding to 15MW later.
It has potential to catapult the Matabeleland North provincial capital to growth as well as spur development in the whole province.
A number of companies have been given exploration grants by the Government before, and these include Tumagole of South Africa, Sakunda Holdings and Shangani Energy Exploration which is owned by Chinese steel giant Sinosteel.
Speaking in Lupane at the Matabeleland North Diaspora Investment Conference recently, Prof Ncube said Government was in talks with a US-based investor and the project was likely to kick off next year.
Without naming the investor, Prof Ncube said the project is now getting traction and part of the engagements also include the possibility of introducing wireless electricity technology.
Prof Ncube said he had the Lupane methane gas project at heart and it is one of the projects he is vigorously pushing for its success.
“I think now we are getting some traction in terms of investors who are keen to invest in that project. I have been following very closely some investors based in the US who are working with local investors to develop this gas project,” he said.
“The investors are going to have the first kind of investment in the world which allows the project to produce electricity which will be transmitted without wires through the air the same way that lightning moves in the air.”
Prof Ncube said the technology will help cut back on cables and wire costs and help the nation reduce expenditure with resources channelled to other priority services.
“It is innovative and we want Zimbabwe to be the first country in the world to commercialise this technology. That’s what I have told the investor that we want to be number one in that technology,” he said. “We want to come here in a year and two years’ time with the Minister of Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution to say we are the first in the world to do this as we commission the project.”
Prof Ncube said methane gas is one area that needs investors. He implored Zimbabweans based in the diaspora to also consider investing in the sector.
Zimbabwe has an estimated 40 trillion cubic feet of potentially recoverable gas in the Lupane-Lubimbi area and could be probably the largest coal-bed deposits in Southern Africa.
The mine site is at the border of Kusile and Binga districts. Once exploited, this will catapult Lupane, the Matabeleland North provincial capital to a boom and support other sectors such as agriculture at the Bubi-Lupane Irrigation, Lupane State University and also create thousands of downstream jobs and industries.
“I am pushing hard on this project. I have told the US company that this should benefit the local community because these are their resources,” said Prof Ncube.
Full story on www.herald.co.zw
Lubimbi Power and Gas (Private) Limited intends to generate power from the proposed coal-bed methane gas for consumption by Rio Energy Private Limited, a subsidiary of RioZim.
Initial plans are that the generation plant will be connected to the national grid through the construction of a two-kilometre 33kV overhead line from the Lubimbi plant to Gwayi 33kV feeder.
Leadership in the province is excited that the wheels of development seem to be finally turning under the Second Republic.
Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister, Richard Moyo, said the province has vast natural endowments with meaningful investments set to increase the provincial GDP.
The gas project is one of the natural resources that can drive the industrialisation of the province.
This means Lupane will also contribute to the country’s development agenda, with the province also boasting the country’s biggest coal mining in Hwange and Binga, as well as gold in Bubi.
Speaking at the same occasion, Kusile District Development Coordinator, Mrs Ennert Sithole, said the community is patiently waiting for the implementation of the project.
“We have been waiting for a very long time and the community is eager to know when this project will start so that they start benefiting. On behalf of Lupane, we are thrilled and we cannot wait for the launch,” she said.
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