Electricity parastatal Eskom says it is “cautiously optimistic” that construction at both its Medupi and Kusile power station sites will fully resume next week.
On Friday, Eskom spokesperson Hilary Joffe told I-Net Bridge that “some work” was going on at Medupi (in Limpopo), but that Kusile (near Witbank) was completely “shut down”.
“We need some assurances before we allow workers to fully return to the sites — assurances of proper conduct and assurances that workers will be safe.”
However, Joffe could not name a day on which work would resume.
“Remember with the elections that next week is a short one,” she said.
On Tuesday, 500 contract workers embarked on a protest over the use of foreign workers at Medupi.
At the time, Eskom said that the protest had been “contained rapidly”, but that the site had been closed as a precautionary measure.
There was some damage to vehicles, but no injuries.
Joffe said there were more than 9 000 workers employed on the Medupi project, and that Murray & Roberts (MUR) and Hitachi were the contractors there.
She gave the assurance that the build programme was “on track”, with the first unit of the new power station scheduled to come on line at the end of 2012.
Last Friday, 4 500 contractors from the Kusile Civil Works joint venture — made up of construction companies Group Five (GRF), WBHO (WBO) and Stefanutti Stocks (SSK) — protested over the use of foreign workers and set fire to site offices, two mobile cranes and vehicles on the Kusile power station construction site.
Eskom said the emergency and police services were immediately notified and the fire was extinguished with no injuries reported. The site was then closed.
Prior to Medupi and Kusile, Eskom had not commissioned new power stations in more than 20 years and both were needed to meet a dire supply shortage that threatened SA’s economic growth.
In 2008, the national grid almost collapsed, costing billions of rand in lost output.