US$ 533m Kariba power project in Zimbabwe kicks off

Posted on : Thursday , 11th September 2014

The Kariba power project in Zimbabwe kicked off officially with President Mugabe commissioning on 4th of September; the project is estimated to cost US$533 million and is expected to generate an additional 300MW by 2017.

Speaking soon after the groundbreaking ceremony, President Mugabe said he was happy that the Kariba power project had begun to take shape. The project had been on the cards for years, with its implementation hampered by the shortage of foreign currency, among other obstacles.

Mugabe also added that the project will see through addition of generation capacity from 750MW to 1050MW. The construction works for the Kariba power project involves adding two 150MW power generating units. The current dam has six 125MW generating units.

The Chinese government has already extended to the country, a US$320 m loan for construction of the dam. A further US$213 m has been borrowed from Development Finance Institutions to fund the same project. This fund is provided through the Zimbabwe Power Company.

Zimbabwe has launched an initiative to seek additional funds from China for development of infrastructure and utilities. Energy and power development has also been identified by Zim-Asserts as a key enabler to productivity and socio-economic development.

The country have been for a while now experiencing challenges largely due to dilapidated and obsolete generation equipment and infrastructure as well as inadequate financing and capitalization and other structural bottlenecks.

Source : consturction review online

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