News / National
Zesa gets new operational vehicles, transformers
10 Dec 2020 at 08:54hrs | Views
Power utility ZESA Holdings has taken delivery of its first batch of fleet of operational vehicles acquired from local suppliers and transformers as part of efforts to improve service delivery.
Speaking at the handover ceremony held at ZENT premises in the capital on Monday where the power utility unveiled 26 operational vehicles and 185 distribution transformers, ZESA executive chairman, Sydney Gata said the situation was bad at the State-owned power utility where only half of the required fleet of 3 000 vehicles was serving the entire nation.
The cars are for ZESA subsidiaries Powertel and the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC).
ZETDC will in addition get transformers.
"Receiving vehicles and transformers should be a routine activity that takes place throughout the year. However, today has a special significance in that we have a fleet that is depleted and very old and this has made us very embarrassed.
I hear that so many times, we hire vehicles or use those belonging to customers to attend to faults and this is embarrassing, "Gata said.
He said there has not been a procurement policy of replacing vehicles for the past 10 to 15 years.
Of the required 3000vehicles, the power utility was short of 1,600, Gata said.
"This should be a turning point and a milestone for us. And to see this kind of injection in motor vehicles and transformers is very exciting indeed," Gata said.
Magna Mudyiwa, the deputy minister of Energy and Power Development said it was critical that ZESA procure new vehicles and transformers, a move which would improve power distribution in the country.
It is understood that the ZETDC requires4 500 distribution transformers of different capacities to operate optimally.
However, ZETDC has been hit hardest by vandalism and theft, which has impacted negatively on electricity supply and distribution.
Speaking at the handover ceremony held at ZENT premises in the capital on Monday where the power utility unveiled 26 operational vehicles and 185 distribution transformers, ZESA executive chairman, Sydney Gata said the situation was bad at the State-owned power utility where only half of the required fleet of 3 000 vehicles was serving the entire nation.
The cars are for ZESA subsidiaries Powertel and the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC).
ZETDC will in addition get transformers.
"Receiving vehicles and transformers should be a routine activity that takes place throughout the year. However, today has a special significance in that we have a fleet that is depleted and very old and this has made us very embarrassed.
I hear that so many times, we hire vehicles or use those belonging to customers to attend to faults and this is embarrassing, "Gata said.
He said there has not been a procurement policy of replacing vehicles for the past 10 to 15 years.
Of the required 3000vehicles, the power utility was short of 1,600, Gata said.
"This should be a turning point and a milestone for us. And to see this kind of injection in motor vehicles and transformers is very exciting indeed," Gata said.
Magna Mudyiwa, the deputy minister of Energy and Power Development said it was critical that ZESA procure new vehicles and transformers, a move which would improve power distribution in the country.
It is understood that the ZETDC requires4 500 distribution transformers of different capacities to operate optimally.
However, ZETDC has been hit hardest by vandalism and theft, which has impacted negatively on electricity supply and distribution.
Source - businesstimes
