ZESA seeks US $128m for Gairezi hydro power project

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The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) Holdings is seeking US $128m to finance construction of the Gairezi hydro power project in the Gairezi River which has made little progress since the tender was awarded to in 2015.

ZESA spokesman, Fullard Gwasira explained that the hydro power project which aims at reducing the cost of power in the country has not developed due to funding constraints. He however affirmed that construction of the plant will commence once funding has been secured.

“The initial preparation work is already complete and we are now seeking to raise the requisite funding.A funding application for the requisite has been made to the African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) and its reportedly being reviewed by the regional bank,” said Fullard Gwasira.

Also Read: Construction works on US $450m Kafulafuta Dam in Zambia at 23%

Gairezi hydro power project

The search for funding comes after the company dropped the local partner, Intratrek Zimbabwe, which had been jointly awarded the contract for Gairezi with Indian companies Angelique International and Bharat Heavy Equipment Limited.

“The contract with the local partner was terminated last year and we are dealing with the supplier directly in line with interest of delivering a least cost project to the people of Zimbabwe,” said Gwasira.

The Gairezi hydro power project involves replacing the current boiler plants with new Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) technology. The project is said to increase the generating capacities of three power stations from 310MW to 340MW.

The project has also undergone a feasibility study which was done by Norconsult and later redone by Indian firm Wapcos and has also completed ground works such as topographic survey, geo-tech survey, generation license and environmental impact assessment. The project is expected to take three years to complete once the construction commences.

 

1 thought on “ZESA seeks US $128m for Gairezi hydro power project”

  1. Dear Munene Abigail, Further to your article as to (ZESA) Holdings is seeking $128m to finance the construction of the Gairezi hydropower project in the Gairezi River I’m linked to an investors group that could finance the project based on a JV with the government.
    Could you please link me to the key persons that deal with the project?
    Thank you in advance

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