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Botswana: Minister Re-Affirms SA's Commitment to Mmamabula
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
11 April 2008
Posted to the web 14 April 2008
Brian Benza
Gaborone
Cabinet minister Ponatshego Kedikilwe has said South Africa is fully committed to the Mmamabula thermo-coal power project despite its recent endeavour to venture into nuclear sources of energy.
He told Parliament that South Africa is looking at many options to bolster its power supply and nuclear energy is one of them just like the Mmamabula project. Kedikilwe is the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources. He said demand for power in the region is currently growing at about four percent per annum, which translates to 1,600 mw per year. This means that power providers in the region like Eskom of South Africa and Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) are constantly evaluating various options to meet the growing demand. Kedikilwe said that for Eskom nuclear energy is one of the options. South Africa is also keenly interested in the Inga power project in the DRC, which Botswana has a stake in.
There have been fears that South Africa's commitment to the Mmamabula project will be compromised by its recent partnership agreement with French nuclear giant, Areva. This prompted Palapye MP, Moiseraele Goya to ask Kedikilwe in Parliament for an explanation.
In his answer, the minister added that he met the South African Ministers of Minerals and Energy and Public Enterprises in February who assured him that the Mmamabula project is still part of their plans to address power demands. He expects to meet soon with South African government officials and review the energy situation.
"Last week I received a note from South Africa's Minister of Public Enterprises proposing, pursuant to this undertaking last February to send a delegation to update me on the energy situation. I have invited him for a working lunch on energy matters on a date to be agreed," Kedikilwe told Parliament.
The P40 billion Mmamabula project comprises a thermal power station and a coal mine. The plant is expected to begin operations in 2012. It will supply electricity to the BPC and Eskom through long-term purchase agreements.
Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE)-listed CIC Energy Corporation is the main corporate player behind the project. Early this year, they revised the schedule of the Mmamabula project by about six months, owing to the strong demand for power plant builds and prevailing engineering resource constraints. These have continued to increase lead times for power plant equipment and construction services.
Financial closure for the first phase of the project is now expected in the fourth quarter of 2008, followed immediately with the start of construction in the same quarter.
This would push commercial operation of the first unit of the power station to late 2012 or early 2013. The second and third units will come on-line at six-month intervals.
In the first phase, the plant will generate between 2,100-2,460mw, using between 7.5-million tonnes and nine million tonnes of coal a year.
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Meanwhile Kedikilwe explained that Morupule colliery is continuing with plans to supply the Morupule power station phase one expansion with between 2.2 and 2.6 million tonnes of coal per year by 2010. "The plans are on schedule and in fact the colliery is currently stockpiling coal to coal meet deliveries to the expansion project," said Kedikilwe.
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