According to the Sunday Mail ZESA has abondoned its Mutare Peaking Power Station which was supposed to be completed in 2022. The facility was supposed to provide a sorely needed 120 MW to the national grid using diesel generators.
According to ZESA the reason for abandoning the project was because using diesel to generate electricity is costly and unsustainable.
The country is already experiencing foreign currency shortages to import fuel and other essentials such as medical drugs and even electricity. So the authorities felt it did not make sense to proceed with the project. Efforts are now being made to change use of the funds for other capital expenditure projects including stabilising distribution network and to buy new cars since ZESA is a transport driven business.
Unnamed Source speaking to the Sunday Mail
This is concerning
To take a loan meant for one thing and then opaquely redirect it to other projects is concerning to say the least. It illustrates what is wrong with Zimbabwe’s parastatals that continue to eschew transparency and tend to prioritise non-essential services.
The core business of ZESA is supposed be to provide electricity for Zimbabwe’s domestic and industrial needs. ZESA is not a transport driven business, it is an electricity generation and distribution entity. The money would have been more than enough to build a solar power plant of similar capacity for example.
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