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Oliver Kazunga
Senior Business Reporter
INDIGENOUS sustainable energy and infrastructure development firm, New Sahara Ventures, has commended the Government for instituting policies that empower local companies by facilitating their participation in different projects across the economy.
Under the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe envisages transforming its economy to upper middle-income status by 2030 underpinned by infrastructure development.
President Mnangagwa’s Government has been prioritising local entrepreneurs in the national development agenda.
In the past five years, Zimbabwe has seen massive infrastructure projects taking shape in key areas such as energy and power development, road rehabilitation and construction, irrigation and housing construction, among others.
Such projects include Gwayi-Shangani Dam in Matabeleland North Province, Kunzvi Dam in Mashonaland East Province, Harare-Beitbridge highway rehabilitation and the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport terminal US$153 million facelift.
The Government is also progressing with the construction of the Mbudzi Interchange in Harare at a cost of US$88 million while several other projects such as education and health facilities are ongoing countrywide.
In an interview after the commissioning of the Chinese-owned Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe’s US$300 million lithium processing plant in Goromonzi by President Mnangagwa last week, New Sahara Ventures chairman Ainos Ngadya, whose firm is one of the entities contracted to build the lithium facility, said in the past five years the Government has been creating policies that promote the participation of local companies in the development of the country.
“In the renewable energy sector, we have seen Independent Power Producers (IPPs) being awarded licences to build power plants while across the energy value chain local players have also won tenders to participate in the development of such projects.
“For example, as New Sahara Ventures we have participated in the construction of the 5MW Guruve Solar Power Park which is already feeding power into the national grid.
“We (New Sahara Ventures) also commissioned a solar park which is also feeding power into the national grid and we are starting very soon another 10MW project in the Midlands Province.
“All this, I think is clear testimony that there is improvement by the Government in terms of recognising the participation of local companies with right skill sets and track record into critical projects,” he said.
Given the milestones achieved by the Government thus far in empowering the locals, Mr Ngadya said there was scope even to do more in terms of public-private partnerships especially in the area of infrastructure development.
The Second Republic has been running a number of key infrastructure projects where local firms have participated like the US$1,5 billion Hwange Thermal Power Station expansion project built by Chinese firms and loan funding.
Zimbabwe has increased its domestic power generation following the commissioning of Hwange units 7 and 8, which are now on stream, complementing output from Kariba Power Station and private investments.
Completion of the projects has seen Zimbabwe increasing its total output to about 1 500MW from as low as less than 600MW in March this year.
Mr Ngadya said New Sahara Ventures was part of Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe’s Arcadia project where the company has been involved in the whole conceptualisation of that mine’s power needs.
“PLZ were looking to partner with local engineering firms that have capacity to deliver the power infrastructure across the mine, so they came to New Sahara Ventures literally for the whole conceptualisation of the power needs of the mine, then engineering, procurement and construction.
“We had to build a high voltage line coming from Mutoko road, which is more than 10 kilometres into the mine’s sub-stations, providing power for all the components, the lithium and tantalite side and also power for the water infrastructure which is coming more than 5km from the nearby dams,” he said.
He said their biggest experience in working with the Chinese was time management and also the ability to deliver quality projects within the shortest possible time.
“But the key aspect or knowledge that we managed to garner from Chinese is strong work ethic and also time delivery of projects.
“Given that we are also the leader in the renewable energy sector, we are working with a number of Chinese, we have a project in Hwange where we are working on the Kamativi Lithium Mine also provide their power solutions and also working with the Dinson project to build the 100-km high voltage infrastructure to provide power to the much-strategic project at Manhize,” said Mr Ngadya.
China’s largest stainless steel producer, Tsingshan Holdings Group Limited through one of its local subsidiaries, Dinson Iron and Steel Company (Dinson), is constructing a US$1,5 billion steel plant in Manhize near Mvuma.
The steel plant which, is expected to be completed towards the end of this year, is touted as Africa’s largest integrated steel works.
In a separate interview, New Sahara Ventures co-founder and chief executive officer Trymore Sharata said his organisation was wholly owned by Zimbabweans and they are looking forward to increasing their participation in infrastructural development projects particularly in the renewable energy sector.
“We are looking at construction of power lines, sub-stations and mainly focusing on renewable energy. Solar power systems and in the near future we are going to be focusing on wind power systems and waste to energy. “What we have done so far is mainly solar parks (solar power stations that feed into the national grid) for the benefit of the generality of Zimbabweans.
“We have a number of power plants that we have commissioned and a number of parks that are in the development stage and some of them are shovel-ready.
“We have commissioned quite a number of projects such as the 5MW Guruve Solar Power Plant that is already feeding power into the grid, and another 5MW power project in Gwanda that is feeding into the national grid . . . this is what we have done and we continue to have exposure to many projects,” he said.
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