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Zesa’s inadequacies dominated the afternoon session at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) 2012 International Business Conference with business people saying the Government should prioritise boosting power generation capacity in order to enhance industrial production.
At the moment, Zesa only supplies about 990 megawatts of electricity against a ballooning demand of about 1 790 megawatts.
Speaking during the question and answer segment, businesspeople said local companies were failing to operate at their full potential largely because of incessant power outages.
“Power generation should be given priority number one if we are to achieve the desired economic growth. The Government should show cause that it will improve power generation in the next few years so that we can cover up for what we have lost in the past years,” said Mr Oswell Binha, the national president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC).
Another participant who identified himself as Mr I Charamba said industrial production would not improve without satisfactory power supply.
“We desperately need power for industry to take off. We have thermal and hydro electricity power plants and the Government must decide now whether to privatise one of the two. Sadly, the country is importing power when we are supposed to be generating ours,” said Mr Charamba.
The Deputy Chief Secretary of Economic Research and Policy Analysis in the office of the President and Cabinet, Retired Colonel Christian Katsande, also concurred that poor electricity supply was hampering economic growth.
He called for concerted efforts towards stakeholder participation in boosting power generation that would meet domestic and industrial demand.
“From a policy position the Government is aware of the reforms needed to allow our entities to perform better through allowing private sector participation. There are a lot of opportunities for the private sector to exploit in the power generation sector,” said Rtd Col Katsande.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango, said power outages were suffocating women’s business ventures.
“We are talking of reviving the economy when there is no Zesa in the farms where most women operate. I have not heard any indications on measures being put in place to address the issue. How can we revive the economy when women, who account for 52 percent of the population, are not involved in business?” said Dr Utete-Masango.
Other participants urged Zesa to introduce the cash power system in order to reduce the consumer debt, which is estimated to be over $450 million.
They described as “tragic” the fact that a majority of people were not honouring their electricity bills because of lack of confidence in the quality of service.
In his presentation about the new strategies for improving power generation capacity, Zesa Holdings chief executive officer Engineer Joshua Chifamba, who was represented by Zimbabwe Power Company technical director Mr Tanda Chisi, said a lot of effort was being put towards improving electricity generation in the local plants.
He assured investors and local businesspeople that sufficient power supplies would be achieved within the next few years.
“As an organisation Zesa is met with a mammoth task that everyone should not ignore. As of today, the whole country needs 1 790 megawatts of electricity against our supply of 990 megawatts. This means we have a shortage of 700 megawatts,” said Engineer Chifamba.
“We are, however, working to building new generation plants and ensuring that the old ones are operating efficiently. Hwange Power Station, which is under rehabilitation, would generate about 600 megawatts from the current 315 megawatts. This work would be completed in the next 18 months.
“Our thermal plants, Bulawayo, Harare and Munyati would also be refurbished to allow the use of a variety of fuels and that would be done within a period of two years. This would increase their combined capacity to between 100 and 270 megawatts.”
Eng Chifamba said Zesa would soon embark on a massive programme of ensuring that consumers use energy saving bulbs, an exercise he said would save about 200 megawatts of electricity.
He also said the power utility would expand Hwange Power Station and Kariba Power Station to produce an addition of 300 and 150 megawatts respectively.
Mr Chifamba, however, reiterated that the future to increased power generation lay in a liberalised power sector where private players were also allowed to venture into the business in partnership with the Government.
He said Zimbabwe had a lot of opportunity in investing in energy production and urged interested players to exploit the opportunity.
“We want to assure businesses that we can deliver. The timelines for our projects are achievable.
“As we move forward, we need support from all stakeholders in solving inherent challenges such as finance, and sanctions,” said Mr Chifamba.
The conference was attended by renowned business people from across the country, international dignitaries, embassy officials and senior Government officials.
Online Reporter