Maravi

Zesco seeks K380bn for Kafue, Kariba

Zesco seeks K380bn for Kafue, Kariba
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Thursday March 13, 2008 [03:00]

ZESCO Limited requires US $100 million (about K380 billion) to expedite uprating works at Kafue Gorge and Kariba North Bank power stations, company managing director Rhodnie Sisala has disclosed. And Zesco director for transmission and generation Christopher Nthala has said completion works of uprating two generator sets with 165 megawatts each at Kafue Gorge Power Station was not likely to reduce load shedding as the country’s demand for power had continued to skyrocket. In an interview, Sisala said Zesco had managed to overcome all the bottlenecks it faced earlier and that the rehabilitation work was in progress.

“Initially, our objective was only to renovate the equipment but later we saw that as an opportunity to upgrade the equipment and that meant doing a lot more work,” Sisala said.
“As a result of that, the total cost of the projects has increased from our initial estimates of US $210 million to US $305 million. And so we need about US $100 million to finance that gap.

“We have engaged a number of lenders and we have secured some money but we have not secured the full amount of money required to complete this project. The government has come to our rescue and they have said in the interest of completing this project as soon as possible, they would like to know from Zesco how much is required to complete the projects so that they can provide those financial resources. And I wish to confirm that we have already submitted to our parent ministry our estimates of what is required to complete this project and we are very hopeful that this will be given favourable consideration.
“We have had some challenges because of delayed payment but all those issues have been resolved, the contractors are back on site and are working very well.”
And Nthala explained that the Kafue Gorge Power Station was only going to recoup its full capacity of the plant after December this year.

“By June this year, we are going to bring on stream two generating sets number six and seven at Kafue Gorge with an addition generating capacity of 330 megawatts,” Nthala said.

“This will result in a restoration of full capacity of the power station but this will only last for about two days because later, we will remove generator number two which will knock out 150 megawatts from the system. And later we will remove another 150 megawatts generator set for about two months. So as we will restore 330 megawatts in June, we will take out another 330 megawatts, so the full capacity of the plant will only be restored after December.”

Labels: KARIBA, ZESCO

posted by MrK @ 3:15 AM