News / National
Zesa sends engineers to Italy, India
19 Oct 2015 at 06:43hrs | Views
ZESA has sent engineers to Italy and India for due diligence on the company that will supply equipment for the construction of the 120MW Mutare emergency power plant over the next 18 months as the power supply company intensifies efforts to ameliorate the power crisis bedeviling the country.
Contract negotiations for the short-term project are expected to be concluded this week between the Zimbabwe Power Company and the contractor, Helcraw Electrical (Pvt) Ltd, and its principals Ansaldo Energia, an Italian power engineering company.
This comes amid reports that ZESA is working on another quick-win project and intends to bring in emergency power suppliers who generate electricity using diesel and gas.
The Mutare power plant, which will take just under 18 months to complete, would be powered by a dual mechanism that can either run on gas or diesel and is one of the priority projects targeted under ZimAsset. Diesel costs in Mutare are the lowest in Zimbabwe as the city is where the Freuka pipeline enters Zimbabwe.
It has also emerged that countries such as Mozambique, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia have gone the route of these emergency power suppliers to alleviate power shortages. Tanzania, which announced plans to switch off all hydropower plants this month due to low water levels in its dams, is renting these diesel-powered generators provided by the emergency power suppliers. ZESA chief executive Engineer Josh Chifamba yesterday said construction of the $92 million Mutare emergency power plant would start soon and had immediate solutions as compared to other big projects that are expected to take four or five years.
"I can confirm that we had a team that we sent to Italy and India for due diligence last week and we expect them back this week," he said. "This project is the earliest we can deliver, compared to others. It is a very critical national project and we cannot delay it a day longer. " No hitches are expected in the due diligence exercise as Ansaldo Energia is behind the successful construction of Hwange Units 5 and 6. The Italian company is expected to supply 2x60MW generator sets and turbines.
The State Procurement Board (SPB) chose Helcraw (Pvt) Ltd as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor beating other bidders who were quoting between $120 million and $200 million for the same job. Eng Chifamba could not be drawn into discussing the issue of emergency suppliers choosing only to say: "If there is anything on that, the appropriate people will announce at the right time."
Engineers said the use of the diesel-powered generators, although expensive, was the only solution to solving the current crisis. "Some people might say diesel and gas are expensive but for us as a country, it is a matter of life and death because what we do not have is the electricity," said one engineer close to the project who declined identification for professional reasons.
Contract negotiations for the short-term project are expected to be concluded this week between the Zimbabwe Power Company and the contractor, Helcraw Electrical (Pvt) Ltd, and its principals Ansaldo Energia, an Italian power engineering company.
This comes amid reports that ZESA is working on another quick-win project and intends to bring in emergency power suppliers who generate electricity using diesel and gas.
The Mutare power plant, which will take just under 18 months to complete, would be powered by a dual mechanism that can either run on gas or diesel and is one of the priority projects targeted under ZimAsset. Diesel costs in Mutare are the lowest in Zimbabwe as the city is where the Freuka pipeline enters Zimbabwe.
It has also emerged that countries such as Mozambique, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia have gone the route of these emergency power suppliers to alleviate power shortages. Tanzania, which announced plans to switch off all hydropower plants this month due to low water levels in its dams, is renting these diesel-powered generators provided by the emergency power suppliers. ZESA chief executive Engineer Josh Chifamba yesterday said construction of the $92 million Mutare emergency power plant would start soon and had immediate solutions as compared to other big projects that are expected to take four or five years.
"I can confirm that we had a team that we sent to Italy and India for due diligence last week and we expect them back this week," he said. "This project is the earliest we can deliver, compared to others. It is a very critical national project and we cannot delay it a day longer. " No hitches are expected in the due diligence exercise as Ansaldo Energia is behind the successful construction of Hwange Units 5 and 6. The Italian company is expected to supply 2x60MW generator sets and turbines.
The State Procurement Board (SPB) chose Helcraw (Pvt) Ltd as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor beating other bidders who were quoting between $120 million and $200 million for the same job. Eng Chifamba could not be drawn into discussing the issue of emergency suppliers choosing only to say: "If there is anything on that, the appropriate people will announce at the right time."
Engineers said the use of the diesel-powered generators, although expensive, was the only solution to solving the current crisis. "Some people might say diesel and gas are expensive but for us as a country, it is a matter of life and death because what we do not have is the electricity," said one engineer close to the project who declined identification for professional reasons.
Source - chronicle
