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JOHANNESBURG. — South Africa’s tender for the estimated 1 trillion rand ($72 billion) expansion of its nuclear power plants will begin in June when state utility Eskom requests proposals from companies bidding for the project, City Press newspaper reported yesterday.

South Africa, which has Africa’s only nuclear power station, wants nuclear power to play the leading role in expanded power generation, easing the country’s reliance on an ageing fleet of coal-fired plants.

It has asked Eskom to procure an additional 9 600MW of capacity.

Rebutting the report, National Treasury head of communication Yolisa Tyantsi said a meeting or presentation with Eskom on March 28 “was not on the state of readiness to procure” more nuclear power.

“National Treasury is not in a position to publicly disclose the discussions,” she said.

The City Press reported that an internal Eskom document indicates that the country’s nuclear programme will get underway.

According to the document, Eskom will issue requests for proposals in June, set the deadline for bids in September and for evaluation in December.

The winning bidder will be decided in March 2018, the newspaper said, and the contract will be signed between December 2018 and March 2019.

Eskom’s spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said “nothing at this stage has been decided on, those dates were suggestive dates.”

“If everything goes well, we will issue a request for proposals around June,” said Phasiwe, adding that the national treasury, department of energy and the department of public enterprises still have to make their own findings.

In February, 27 companies showed preliminary interest in the country’s plans to build more nuclear reactors after Eskom in December asked them to provide information on nuclear power costs and financing options. Companies have until April 28 to provide their information. — Reuters.