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The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority’s inability to satisfy the demand for power due to depressed generation and capacity underutilisation, has been the country’s major downfall.
It has also earned the power utility unflattering nicknames relating to its provision of service, or lack thereof.
It has been hoped the liberalisation of the power sector would bring the much-needed relief and fillip.
One such project that on paper will help Zimbabwe overcome electricity shortages is the Gokwe North Power Project.
The project is also known as the Sengwa Power Project as it is set to operate on RioZim (Pvt) Limited’s Sengwa coalfield, 13 kilometres from Chitekete Growth Point.
It will see the operation of a coal-fired power station that will produce up to 2 000 Mega Watts of electricity.
Zesa awarded RioZim with an Independent Power Producer licence for generation, transmission and distribution in 2010.
The company hopes to operationalise the project by 2015. Feasibility studies carried out in 1997 showed that a water pipeline from the Zambezi River needs to be put in place.
Sengwa Colliery sits on 1.3 million tonnes of coal, of which 538 million tonnes are proven reserves that will feed the thermal power station.
The coal is described as low rank or non-coking coal with an average calorific value of 16,7MJ/kg and 29 percent ash content, therefore not suitable for general commercial use.
This makes it ideal feed for an on-site thermal power station.
The mega project is expected to chew up US$3 billion over a five-year period to reach completion.
This figure sounds like a curse for a struggling company like RioZim that is failing to meet its basic requirements
It is this lack of capital that threatens to derail the project.
As it stands today, the Gokwe North Power Project could be light years away from existence.
RioZim is currently caught in a rut as it seeks funds for recapitalization and debt retirement.
The company is seeking to raise US$59 million for clearing a US$29 million debt, US$11.6 million working capital and US$13.6, and US$13 million for capital projects and recapitalization, respectively.
The company was in the news as the last year closed with its finance director Emmerson Mungwariri admitting that they risked going under.
RioZim hopes to secure funding through Credit loan, Build, Own, Operate (BOO) and Private Public Partnerships (PPPs) facilities but none has materialized so far.
A South African company that had been linked to the Gokwe Project is understood to have developed cold feet recently.
On the ground, the situation cannot be any gloomier.
When The Herald recently visited Sengwa, the mine was closed.
In an earlier interview, RioZim’s spokesperson Mr Mufaro Pasipanodya said no work was in progress and that the man responsible for the power project had left the site.
A security guard at the mine revealed that the local authority had shut services to the mine owing to the non-payment of bills.
The old man, standing on the other side of the locked gate, highlighted that he, like many other workers, was in the dark as to when and if operations would resume.
He said he knew that the company was burdened with debt and lacked money to operate.
“We can only wait and see how the superiors will do it,” he said in a fatalistic attitude.
The security guard was also in the dark as to how the much hyped power project would see light of day.
“We have heard about it and that it would be located there,” he said pointing to the proposed site, “but there has been no activity for years.”
If RioZim can overcome its financial problem it will have to contend with one other problem.
The proposed site – a huge expanse of flat land – is Charikwasha village.
Heading this village is 66-year-old Lameck Mabongwani, a polygamist with 19 wives and scores of children.
Mabongwani, a very successful farmer who sells up to 800 bales of cotton and between 60 and 70 tonnes of maize annually, will not be very eager to leave this place.
In fact, he felt offended when RioZim came knocking on his doors about a decade ago
“They came and said they were collecting soil samples for the project and I gave them the go-ahead.
“They later came with drills and a caterpillar and drilled holes in my field. I asked them what they were doing and they said they were testing whether the soil was good for the project. They sunk three drills and then covered them,” he said.
Mabongwani realised that developments could affect his lifestyle and he asked hard questions.
“There were four white men who came here,” said Mabongwani.
“I asked them what would happen to us, whether we would be resettled and they promised alternative land and buildings.
“They also weighed our wealth and counted our herd of cattle so as to know what kind of relocation they would put us in,” he said.
So far that has been the end of story.
Mabongwani said he welcomes any idea that will not jeopardise his farming and family.
He said ideally, any alternative land should be of equitable size and fertility to the property he currently holds.
Like all other villagers, he too is in the dark as to what will become of the power project.
“We do not know what has happened to it. However, we welcome anything that will bring development. I hope it happens soon.”
Mabongwani hopes that rescuscitation of the company will result in improved benefits for the community.
“We have not benefitted significantly from the mine,” he said of the years that the opencast coal mining operated. It has brought land degradation as (when operational) 20-30 trucks come here to transport coal daily.”