Story by Mhlomuli Ncube
ZESA Holdings has confirmed that it is awaiting final Cabinet approval for a proposed partnership with Indian firm Jindal, aimed at refurbishing Hwange Power Station’s Units 1 to 6. The US$455 million deal is structured under a 15-year Rehabilitate, Operate, and Transfer (ROT) arrangement designed to bolster the country’s electricity generation capacity.
Speaking on the proposed agreement, ZESA Group Acting Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Cleopas Nyachowe, said the refurbishment will restore the six units to a combined capacity of 920 megawatts, raising the station’s total output to 1 500 megawatts. The move is expected to significantly alleviate load-shedding challenges.
“They have the right to refurbish the asset, operate it, and then we share the revenues, we are sharing revenues, not profit, so this is where we are reducing our risk. They are taking over all the operational expenses that are going to happen for that period, and then at the end of the period, hand back the asset and staff.
“It has been very tough negotiations, we have experts from ZESA, then the government at various levels, from the ministry, the Attorney General’s office, and so forth, so that agreement has gone quite far. Obviously, the last view comes from Cabinet, they will have to give us a go-ahead that everything has some fine-tuning that has been happening, like why do not you share revenue like this so that the country benefits more.
“Once that is sealed, we then look at taking out units one by one of the six units, and the visit period is 48 months. They could do it faster, but the limitation is that you can only be given one machine at a time. If we were able to give two machines, then we would actually cut down the period over which the refurbishment is done,” he said.
The project forms part of broader efforts by Zimbabwe under the Second Republic to modernise its energy infrastructure, increase generation capacity, and secure the national grid’s reliability.
