Recent media reports from Zimbabwe and in South Africa suggesting that Eskom Holdings will invest about $37-million toward the expansion and upgrade of its Zimbabwe counterpart’s power station in the north western town of Hwange are “factually incorrect,” Eskom said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.
The reports in Zimbabwe quoted the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) as saying that the two utilities would seal a deal in the coming week.
Media reports also suggested that Zesa would repay the loan by exporting 150 megawatts of electricity to South Africa every week.
“Eskom can confirm that it is not scheduled to sign an agreement with Zesa in the coming week. Eskom can also confirm that it has not taken any decision at any level of the organisation to invest the said amount in Zimbabwe,” the statement said.
In a letter dated February 22 2006, Eskom expressed a willingness to enter into an arrangement to support the Zimbabwean power utility to improve the available load factor at the Hwange Power Station. This, Eskom said, was in the best interest of the region in view of the diminishing power generation capacity in the region.
“Eskom has not made any financial commitments to the Zimbabwean power utility,” the statement concluded. – I-Net Bridge