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The construction of a US$14 million mini-Hydro power plant in Masvingo, which began in March 2022, is on course and is set to be completed by year-end, an official from the company involved in the project has said.
Great Zimbabwe Hydro Power Company is building the hydro-power plant at Lake Mutirikwi, which is expected to produce five megawatts of power.
In an interview, Great Zimbabwe Hydro Power Company Projects executive co-ordinator, Mr Hubert Chipfumbu confirmed the development and said along with Government support, the company was working with local and international partners on the project.
“Frontier Energy of Denmark is the foreign direct investor, and locally we are dealing with Old Mutual Life Assurance Company under the pensions fund with main contributors in that fund being Public Service Pensions Fund and ZB Holdings,” he said.
Mr Chipfumbu said the project has seen several locals being employed as all the unskilled labour was being recruited locally for the civil works and transmission lines.
“We have in excess of about 150 workers that are locals with about 30 percent of them being females. We are also trying to make inroads to get licences for two to three other projects we intend to embark on but for now, I will not divulge much on those that have not yet taken shape,” he said.
The project is one of several power ventures the country is undertaking to ensure both electricity self-sufficiency and clean energy in line with global trends of shifting to eco-friendly sources of energy to contain global warming.
Lake Mutirikwi is the country’s second largest dam and supplies irrigation water to sugar-cane producing estates of Triangle and Hippo Valley in the lowveld.
The development also comes at a time when the country is making headway in the construction of a 17 megawatts power plant at Tugwi-Mukosi Dam, the country’s largest water body, also in Masvingo province. — New Ziana
Bongani Ndlovu