By BRIGHTON MURONZEREYI
THE Zimbabwean government says the country will soon export electricity after embarking on several power generating projects.
Speaking in the Senate last week, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the projects would soon come on stream.
This comes at a time when the country has been experiencing intermittent power cuts.
“There are a lot of projects at Hwange power station which are being done by private companies, so we appreciate President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa’s wisdom.
“We have a lot of electricity, we believe that as time goes on we will end up exporting electricity and at the moment, we are importing electricity from Mozambique and South Africa.
“His Excellency was also talking to the President of Zambia regarding electricity and we have a lot of ongoing projects and if we have the time to visit the Hwange thermal power station, even the Kariba hydroelectric station, they are working on that project so that all the eight units would start generating electricity.
“The Second Republic started a good job of industrialising so that we receive foreign direct investment and for that to happen, we need to have enough power through the wisdom of President Mnangagwa as the head of the Second Republic through engagement and re-engaging with companies,” said Mutsvangwa.
She added that the country requires 1 800 megawatts daily.
“At one point Zimbabwe was consuming only 1 000 megawatts, but with the growth of industries, the building and construction of factories, now we need 1 800 megawatts, which means that gap will be found whilst we are working at developing what is there.
“We have never produced wheat like we have produced this year. This was only seen in 2004, we do not want to import wheat, but this means that the demand for electricity will be high, that is why we are facing challenges.
“We also have such a challenge through Zesa and Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority, which is because of distribution challenges and as a farmer, I know that sometimes it is not because of load shedding, but because of vandalism and pilfering of copper cables and other equipment.
“So we need to create employment through these projects so that the industries also operate,” Mutsvangwa said. – Daily News