Chronicle Editor
Oliver Kazunga recently in Hwange
ZIMBABWE has so far drawn down US$290 million from the US$1,4 billion facility extended by the Chinese government through China Export Import Bank to finance the expansion of Hwange Thermal Power Station project.
The draw-down of resources from the facility began in 2018 as the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), a subsidiary of Zesa Holdings, is working on the expansion project through a Chinese contractor, Sino Hydro. The expansion works at Hwange entail the civil, mechanical and electrical works. These would see the thermal power plant having two more units, 7 and 8, adding a combined 600MW to the national grid.
The power station’s installed capacity stands at 920MW but has experienced constant breakdowns caused by obsolete equipment, among other challenges resulting in low generation capacity.
In an interview after the tour of the project site by the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Monitoring and Implementation of Government programmes, Dr Joram Gumbo on Thursday, ZPC project site manager, Engineer Forbes Chanakira, said the bulk of the resources from the facility will be made soon.
“We have drawn down US$290 million to fund activities that have happened so far and the bulk of the money will actually be drawn down during the electro-mechanical works where we envisage that most of the money will actually be spent.
“The electro-mechanical works start around April or May but some of the electro-mechanical works are actually happening with the onsite fabrication of pipe work,” he said.
Eng Chanakira said electro-mechanical works that were underway include structural steel erection. So far, the project is 39,4 percent complete. ZPC hopes that Zimbabwe’s energy supply gap would be reduced once Units 7 and 8 start producing.
“The expansion of Hwange Thermal Power Station is really significant in that it will also create employment opportunities for our skilled personnel as well as the generality of the Zimbabwean population. The project will actually result in skills transfer between the foreign counterparts on the contractor side and our locals who are actually participating on this project,” said Eng Chanakira.
Zimbabwe consumes an average of 1 400MW daily in summer and 1 600MW in winter. Meanwhile, progress on the construction of the thermal power station extension works are being threatened by the outbreak of Covid-19 in China towards the end of last year and some of the Asian country manufacturers of the materials used at the project have stopped producing.The pandemic has so far spread to more than 70 countries across the globe. — @okazunga
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