By BRIGHTON MURONZEREYI
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday said his government has directly intervened to end by next month rolling power cuts that have spooked business and ordinary clients.
This comes after Zimbabwe recently faced intensified load shedding due to breakdown of creaky plants at Hwange and Kariba power stations.
The situation slightly improved at the weekend.
Speaking at the burial of late national hero Heighten Nkomo at the National Heroes Acre in Harare yesterday, Mnangagwa said the government was also looking at power generation from green energy sources.
“I am pleased that the long hours of power outages which were experienced in the past weeks are being addressed and the government continues to look for alternative green energy sources.
The lasting solution, however, is the Hwange 7 and 8 power project, which is now 97 percent complete and this is set to add 600 megawatts to the national grid.
“Through our own resources, we are building our country brick by brick and stone upon stone and it is none, but ourselves who have the responsibility to build a prosperous and peaceful Zimbabwe,” Mnangagwa said.
This also comes as consumers and businesses have been contending with crippling blackouts of up to 12 hours a day over the past few weeks.
A concerned president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Kurai Matsheza, told the Daily News early last week that the heavy load shedding would hit both business and the ailing economy badly.
“The issue of inadequate power in the country is now very worrisome to industry as well as consumers.
“The situation is now more serious than we ever imagined and this affects the growth of the economy.
“Without electricity, we cannot produce anything. This is now pulling us back on the economic gains that we had made going into the last quarter of the year.
“Obviously, this will worsen the stability of the economy and industry, because we are not producing much at the moment,” the worried Matsheza said.
The president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR), Denford Mutashu, weighed in saying the situation now needed the urgent intervention of authorities to save the economy from collapse.
“Increased load shedding can only paint a gloomy picture of the business sector’s performance. We appeal to President Emmerson Mnangagwa to intervene in this crisis that continues to deepen and affect not only business, but the public at large.
“I have interacted with a number of shops and butcheries that have had to empty cold rooms and throw away carcasses.
“The cold chain has been affected badly as perishables require refrigeration 24/7,” the concerned Mutashu told the Daily News. – Daily News