Mr Gwariro
At least eight companies have shown interest in constructing an emergency power plant which the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) wants to establish in Mutare, an official has said.
The 120 Megawatt station which will be powered by a dual mechanism that can either run on gas or diesel will be strictly be used to provide backup power in cases when there is a major fault at one of the major power stations.
ZPC managing director Mr Noah Gwariro told New Ziana the selection process for the company that would undertake the project, to cost an estimated $120 million, was already underway.
“There are eight bidders for that project and adjudication is currently underway,” he said.
“By end of May we will be done with that process (selection).”
The winner would be announced when the adjudication was completed, with Mr Gwariro insisting that “we are looking for the best offer.”
He said ZPC was confident that it would be able to get reliable gas supplies from Mozambique, which is already running a gas powered power plant.
“There are a lot of developments in Mozambique. They are already running a power plant on gas. There is some gas close to Mutare and that is our target,” he said.
Mr Gwariro said while diesel was very expensive, it would only be used in extreme emergencies to power the plant.
Faced with power shortages, Zimbabwe currently relies on imports from countries including Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo for emergency supplies.
The country is currently producing around half of the required 2 200Mw and is working on various other projects including expansion of existing power plants that will produce over 3 000Mw in the next six years.
The projects, some of which are funded by the Chinese, are worth an estimated $5 billion. — New Ziana.