20 February 2008
Two Chinese companies have been awarded tenders for the expansion of Morupule Power Station, while Government will tap into the massive Caborra Bassa power station in Mozambique, the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, said at a briefing of business representatives in Gaborone on Monday.
Kedikilwe told the BOCCIM prompted session that government intended to fast-track and incentivise the contractors to speed up the first phase of the 300MW project.
The federation of organised business had invited Kedikilwe to brief its executive and selected business magnates on what plans government had to address the power crisis Botswana is currently undergoing.
The minister said another plan was to encourage independent power producers (IPPs) to start power generation projects, but he warned his audience that his ministry would be on the lookout for sharks out to swindle government.
The Botswana Power Corporation has also entered into a bartering arrangement with a power station in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in terms of which the BPC will supply it with coal in return for power supply.
The BPC is also engaged in negotiations with a bigger power station at Hwange near Bulawayo, also in Zimbabwe. Botswana's sole power utility is looking at investing in the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Organisation (ZESCO), which operates the Hwange Power Station.
The Namibian power utility NamPower has invested US$40 million - approximately P256.8 million - in the same power station.
Kedikilwe disclosed that the BPC had successfully negotiated a contract for the supply of 35MW from Mozambique's massive Caborra Bassa power station and that plans were afoot to increase the supply to 50MW by the end of the year, escalating to 200MW in due course.
The minister said certain mining houses, which are among Botswana's major consumers of electricity, were already "doing their bit" to generate their own requirements.
Soda Ash Botswana in Sowa Town was already producing all of its requirements, while BCL Mine in Seleb-Phikwe was meeting some of its requirements.
Kedikilwe is scheduled to visit mines in northern Botswana, among them Tati Nickel, to explore possibilities of own power generation. Meanwhile, the commissioning of the Morupule coal washing plant is scheduled for March 14. The coal beneficiation scheme is partly aimed at school kitchens countrywide. Kedikilwe said government institutions would soon be put on energy-saving obligations.
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