Story by Josephine Mugiyo, Diplomatic Correspondent
AN Indian company, Jindal Steel and Power has expressed interest in investing in the refurbishment of Hwange Power Station and add 2000 megawatts to the national grid.
Representatives of the company met President Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House, this Friday.
Prospective investors who are eying the country’s energy sector could see Zimbabwe having an additional 2000 megawatts on the power grid through the refurbishment of units 1 to 6 at the Hwange Power Station.
Jindal Steel and Power Company, which is based in New Delhi, India is also looking into putting up four new units at Hwange with each set to produce 300 megawatts.
This Friday, the company executives led by chairperson, Mr Naveen Jindal met with President Emmerson Mnangagwa to express their interest in investing in Zimbabwe’s energy sector.
“We are the Jindal Group, we are very good in power generation, mining, steel making, and building infrastructure so, there are lots of opportunities here and we are looking at different opportunities. We are looking at power generation, refurbishment and power generation of the Hwange Power Station. I hope that we can contribute to the development and progress of Zimbabwe well. We would like to start at the earliest and contribute to making Zimbabwe self-sufficient in power generation. Because power is an element, electricity is an important element to improve the quality of life,” he said.
ZESA executive chairperson, Dr Sydney Gata says an additional 2000 megawatts to the national grid will be a game-changer in the country’s quest for economic growth, given the importance of power to all economic activities.
“So, an injection of 2,000 megawatts of baseload capacity in our economy would be transformational. It will ensure that we can attain the targets we talk about of Vision 2030. We know the company, it’s a global giant, and they are already doing very well in Botswana. We are aware of them and we feel very privileged to attract their interest, attention and investment. We are signing two agreements, one today, another one tomorrow.”
Having the Jindal Company on board will propel the country towards producing sufficient power for both domestic and industrial use.
