Pretoria — The public participation process with regard to the country's long-term electricity capacity plan has been delayed for a few weeks,

Public participation on the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) - which is a long-term electricity capacity plan, defining the need for new generation and transmission capacity for the country, was to have kicked off on 1 September.

The Department of Energy said in a statement that it had made a presentation on the IRP 2010 to the Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Energy on 31 August. The IMC requested the department to do further work on the plan, before it was presented to the 2nd plenary session for stakeholder input.

"This means that the department will not be able to go ahead with the public participation process that was scheduled to commence on 1 September," said Minister Dipuo Peters.

Peters said the department was committed to public participation and stakeholder engagement with regards to the IRP 2010. It was important that the government engage the plan so that its outcomes represent the widest spread of views across both civil society and government.

In June, a plenary session at which stakeholders made representations to the department on the IRP was meant to give stakeholders an opportunity to elaborate on inputs made.

"It has become necessary to delay the 2nd plenary session initially planned for September 2010, in order to factor in the input made by the IMC. Stakeholders will be advised in due course regarding the revised date for the 2nd plenary session," she said.