Friday, March 29, 2024

Government in the process of signing three contacts for renewable power plants

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Mr Amos Chanda
Mr Amos Chanda

The Government is in the process of signing three contacts for the establishment of renewable power plants in selected parts of the country, State House has disclosed.

Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda said the contracts involve two solar power plants of 200 and 400 Mega Watts (MW), respectively and a 300 MW geothermal plant.

Mr Chanda said at a media briefing at State House in Lusaka yesterday that the contract for the construction of the 750 MW Kafue Gorge Power station was nearly finalised.

“This is an unprecedented development the country has never experienced in 51 years of independence. It shows that his Excellency the President is determined to ensure that the country has adequate power to spur economic growth,” he said.

In a related development, President Edgar Lungu yesterday met with the Treasury and Bank of Zambia (BoZ) officials at State House to discuss the state of the country’s economy with focus on stabilisation of the Kwacha, maize marketing, energy security and options for economic diversification.

The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda, his Deputy Christopher Mvunga, Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba, BoZ Governor Danny Kalyalya, his Deputy Bwalya Ng’andu and two senior economists.

Mr Chanda, who confirmed the meeting, also attended it along with Special Assistant to the President Economic Development Affairs Hibeene Mwiinga and his counterpart for Policy Implementation and Monitoring Lucky Mulusa.

16 COMMENTS

  1. Comment: Am quiet certain that the time we will have plenty of rainful in the country that will cause floods like in other countries,HH will blame PF.

    • Too little too late. Lack of planning, proactiveness and experience.This is the reactive panic ridden management style by Lungu and PF we have grown accustomed to.

      HH where are you, we need ecoomic managers to run this country.

  2. MUTALE Kaela,
    Of course he will…We expect him to continue being trivial and pathetic as usual because he is not wise and will never learn from all his losses he has scored so far. In my7 language we say: “Ubufumu bwaba nensu aba…ala bwakuiposaika fye no kusabaila.”
    BUT as long as hh does not recognize the fact that Zambia is a Christian nation, he shall continue to fall in every election. Ubu Tonga nangu ubu Bemba, nangu ubu Tumbuka or any tribe tekantu akantu kuba Zambian…

  3. Ba Mutale,are you a member of the Green Party? Too much vyamba iwe mwana. Comment on the issue at hand and give constructive advice. However,what can ba Chikwanda offer? He should have been left out of that meeting.

    • What can Chikwanda offer?

      MORE KALOBA! It is the only thing he knows.

      And more suffering for the next generation that will have to pay it back. This is literally STEALING FOOD OUT OF OUR CHILDRENS MOUTHS!

  4. Just a word of encourage to Amos, despite what haters say you are really doing a good job. Keeping working hard, you have our support. You performance is in region 85%-90%. All these tides will soon disappear and everyone will be quite.

  5. MUTALE Kaela,
    Of course he will…We expect him to continue being trivial and pathetic as usual because he is not wise and will never learn from all his losses he has scored so far. In my7 language we say: “Ubufumu bwaba nensu aba…ala bwakuiposaika fye no kusabaila.”
    BUT as long as hh does not recognize the fact that Zambia is a Christian nation, he shall continue to fall in every election. Ubu Tonga nangu ubu Bemba, nangu ubu Tumbuka or any tribe tekantu akantu kuba Zambian… LT. please show this comment and do not delete it.

  6. Yea, you have to move fast because, can you imagine having load shading again next dry season, during elections for that matter!

  7. After sleeping in meetings and enjoying his holidays and hangovers on the beach has Lungu finally woken up? SEVEN MONTHS LATE!

    This should have been done long time ago. By the time these projects are completed the rains will be here and Kariba will be full again.

    And these will have been constructed at enormus cost and be unnecessary. A waste of EUROBOND kaloba money due to poor planning and no vision!

    PF DISASTER planning!

    • Ba Observer,much as I am not a fun of PF, I can say that you got this one wrong mainly because the statements did not explain a bit what is in the contracts. But hind sight can explain that the reason they have revised electricity tariffs to be cost reflective is to encourage private investment in power generation. So we do not fore see eurobond going into new power stations but we expect to have a new energy mix that will assure us of power even in times of drought. Whether it rains heavily and Kariba floods we still need alternative sources of electricity – SURPLUS is NOT bad. After all we can export the excess that is why they are developing the East African Inter-connector.

  8. The PF is now panicking.The desperate measures the ruling party is taking have exposed the lack of planning and incompetence of the ruling clique.
    I am eagerly awaiting a new constitution which will ensure good governance.

  9. Don’t send PF kaponya caders to sign those contracts or you will end up with a situation like ZESCO, failing to stop exports in times of need.

  10. The PF government under the leadership of President Lungu continues to enjoy nation-wide support as evidenced by its victories in the January 20, 2015 presidential elections and seven parliamentary by-elections held in several constituencies around the country since President Lungu ascended to office.

    • Zambians in the rural areas wait until they are starving before they realise government has lied to them.

      But PF is bringing that soon. How much was mealie meal in 2011? How much is it now? How much will it be in 2016?

      It is too late for PF to do anything now. They will face the music soon.

  11. It would have been a good idea to also disclose how much these plants are going to cost us. From an earlier analysis which was posted to this website, it seems our power woes would have been non existent had we completed the Kafue Gorge hydro and Maamba thermal plants on time. The same analysis also indicated that the solar power plants were the most expensive to build. And yet it seems these are the options the government went with. Why are we so wasteful as a nation, even with the current debt crisis we are experiencing?

    The PF government needs to become more fiscally disciplined. Right now, they all seem to be suffering terrible hang overs, and think that we can borrow indefinitely. I am almost certain that the recent eurobond which was issued will not fund these projects, and…

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