$100m Gwayi project in limbo

CHINA-Africa Sunlight Energy has delayed starting construction of a Gwayi coal mine and residential complex worth $100 million to mid-October after clearing work at the site started late, The Source reported.

The two projects are the first phase of the $2, 1 billion project which would eventually include a 2 200 megawatt (MW) thermal power station, a gas extraction plant and a coal brick factory, among others, and were supposed to have started in July.

China-Africa still expects to complete construction of coal mine and a 300MW power station by 2016, the company's deputy general manager Charles Mugari said.

"We discovered they had not finished clearing, so we are now going to move on site in mid-October," Mugari told The Source.

The first phase involves civil works for the coal mine, a residential complex to house 2 000 workers and construction of a 300MW power station at the site.

In the second phase, the company will focus on methane gas extraction and the construction of another 300MW plant by 2017.

China-Africa is a 50-50 joint venture between Zimbabwe's Old Stine Investments and Shandong Taishan Sunlight of China and plans to spend $2,1 billion in the next five years in various energy projects at its concessions in the Gwayi area in Matabeleland North.