Minister invites more independent power producers

get operating licences in order to alleviate power shortages in the country.
Speaking at a function last week, he said Zesa continues to have problems hence the need for private players to come in.
“We seem to be going nowhere with this issue of power supply as the country continues to face power shortages.
“Currently we have five sources of power that are all operating at their sub-optimal levels due to a number of factors,” he said.
He said towns and cities were receiving a quarter or less power than they are supposed to be using.
“For example, Bulawayo is supposed be using 100 megawatts but at the moment the city is only receiving 20 megawatts which is hindering businesses as well as inconveniencing customers.
“This is as a result of old machinery that is being used by the power producers because installing new machinery is quite expensive.”
He said the problem was not load shedding but the generating capacity that was extremely low.
He added that Government was planning to add more units to the Hwange and Kariba power plants and allow independent producers to come in.
“The Ministry of Finance is dry at the moment and there is no hope that they can give any funds to help these power stations. We don’t have the money.
“We need a lot but our fiscus is very limited which is why we are inviting independent producers to come on board.”
The minister encouraged business people who are capable to venture into power production by applying for licences so as to support the Government entities.
“There are a number of private power producers who are lined up to get licences which is a good sign that next year things may improve,” he said.
He went on to say that the ministry responsible for power was doing their best to address these power shortages though unavailability of resources is always weighing them down.
“The ministry is doing what they can and it is up to us to maximise on the little that we have to build our economy.
“The minister even introduced pre-paid meters as a way of trying to address power cuts but until machinery is upgraded there is little he can do.”
Zesa has been struggling to supply power to the country for some time now as the company is currently producing about 1400 megawatts which is about half peak demand.
This has resulted in serious business interruptions for most companies as production needs power.