via ZRA hosts Zim, Zambia bilateral talks February 26, 2014 by Richard Muponde NewsDay
THE Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) will today host the 31st Council of Ministers (COM) meeting between Zimbabwe and Zambia to discuss bilateral issues concerning shared developmental projects along the river, including the Batoka Hydro-electric Scheme.
The COM is the supreme body of this bilateral organisation.
It comprises the ministers of Energy, Finance and Attorney-Generals of the two countries.
ZRA chief executive officer Munyaradzi Munodawafa yesterday said the three-day meeting would be held in Livingstone after a meeting of the Inter-Governmental Committee of Officials (ICO) yesterday.
“Its participants are also drawn from the same ministries plus the electricity utility companies namely, Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (Zesco) and Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC),” said Munodawafa.
“Among other bilateral issues, the meeting is expected to discuss the ZRA budget, progress on the Batoka Hydro-electric Scheme and the rehabilitation of Kariba Dam.
The ministers are also expected to visit the Batoka proposed site and the recently completed access roads to the Batoka site.”
ZRA is mandated to harness and manage the Zambezi River waters for socio-economic development and to maintain the Kariba Dam complex, including any future dams or infrastructure on the river forming a common border between the two countries.
The construction of a 1 600 megawatt (MW) hydro-power plant to the tune of $6 billion at the Batoka Gorge along the Zambezi River near Victoria Falls has gathered momentum with six international transaction advisers shortlisted for the project in December last year.
The project involves the construction of a dam and a hydro-power plant on the Zambezi River. The potential capacity of the site is 1 600 MW to be shared equally between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
It is going to be constructed 54km downstream of the Victoria Falls.
On completion, the scheme is expected to leave Zimbabwe as a net exporter of power in the region.
COMMENTS
Of-course, there is no doubt that this is sheer waste of time and other resources. I guess everyone was not sleeping in the conference hall. Or perhaps, the sound of flooded Zambezi River saved the day. GOODLUCK
“Council of ministers” it sounds so grand. 31 meetings and exactly nothing achieved. This is a proud record. These fellows and their hangers on have surely earned their daily bread – and their perks and bribes and small houses
With news of the Bindura and Mutare power stations completed in 3 years, why are we still pursuing this? Who is going to pay for it?
Its nice to mislead ignorant people with well written statements with lack detailed information.This proposed project has been on the pipeline for many years now.Do we have resources to start a big project like this with our bad economy?
It is claimed that Zimbabwe will become a net exporter of electricity as if all the 1600 megawatts will all belong to us.This is not true because if its a joint project the end product will be shared accordingly.Let us assume each country gets half the total generated output,therefore we will only get 800 megawatts which is still not adequate for our peak period demand if the figure we were given previously for additional energy required is 1100 megawatts.