eBusiness Weekly
Tawanda Musarurwa
HARARE – The Batoka Gorge Hydro Electricity project – which is set to generate 2 400 mega-watts (MW) on completion – is well on course, with lead financier African Development Bank (AfDB) having commenced the implementation of a Resource Mobilisation Plan to secure funds for the project.
The proposed scheme includes a 181- metre high dam and two underground power stations located in each country with installed capacity of 1200 Mega Watts on both the Zambian and Zimbabwean sides.
The development of the project, which is being co-developed by Zimbabwe and Zambia, was structured three-prong: Phase one involved updating engineering feasibility studies, carrying out of environmental impact assessment studies, and addressing institutional legal aspects of the project.
Phase two comprises resource mobilisation and tendering.
And phase three will involve financing support works related to construction and commissioning.
“The board noted that the AfDB had commenced the implementation of a Resource Mobilisation Plan to secure the funds required for the construction of the 181 metre high Dam, two power stations to be located on either bank of the Zambezi River which will each generate 1 200MW, as well as the associated power transmission lines to evacuate power from the Batoka Gorge Hydro-Electric Scheme,” said the Zimbabwe River Authority in a recent update on the project.
Although phase two has commenced, the Zambezi River Authority confirmed that completion of feasibility studies on the project (under phase one) will be completed by mid-2019 due to the “complex nature of the project.”
Earlier this year, international electrical engineering giants, China Power and United States incorporated General Electric (GE), have launched a joint bid for a contract to construct the 2 400 MW project.
The Batoka project is expected to improve power output for both countries.
On the Zimbabwean side, the country has 2 245MW of installed generation capacity but constraints in water supply for hydro-power generation at Kariba and coal supply challenges have impacted on power generation.
The Batoka Gorge Hydro-Electric project was long overdue, having been mooted in the early 1990s when the cost of implementing it stood at $2 billion which has since doubled.
It is projected that during the construction phase, 6000 jobs will be created and a further 1200 permanent green jobs during the operational phase, shared equally between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The project is expected to significantly increase power exports to the regional Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) energy generation mix.
The site of the Batoka Gorge Hydro Power Scheme is located across the Zambezi River on the international boundary between the sovereign states of Zambia and Zimbabwe, 54 kilometers downstream of the Victoria Falls.
