The Sunday News
Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
DEVELOPERS of the US$4,5 billion Batoka Gorge Hydro Power Project (BGHP) said they are expecting to start actual construction of the dam in the first quarter of next year after the ongoing optimisation studies are complete.
Establishment of human settlements that will make part of the new Batoka City will also start next year on either side of the Zambezi River. The BGHP is one of the mega projects in the country and its completion is expected to enhance electricity availability in the region.
Zimbabwe and Zambia are implementing the hydro-power project in the gorge along the Zambezi River where two 1 200MW power plants on either side of the river, a sub-station, transmission as well as a new settlement and road infrastructure will be built.
The project is being implemented through the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), a company jointly established by both countries to manage water projects in the Zambezi River. The project has delayed due to a number of challenges and in December last year, the Council of Ministers ordered ZRA to move with speed and make sure actual construction starts in the first quarter of 2025.
Delegates that attended the 5th International Renewable Energy Conference Expo 2024 which ended in Victoria Falls on Friday also implored ZRA to activate the project and make sure there is activity by the time the 6th edition is held next year.
The delegates visited the site of the dam wall about 47km downstream of Victoria Falls on Thursday as part of the programme to have an appreciation of the project.
Speaking onsite ZRA, chief executive officer Engineer Munyaradzi Munodawafa said a technical advisor was already on the ground working on optimisation of feasibility studies while the 13km access road leading to the site from Jambezi Road had been rehabilitated. The project scope includes construction of the dam wall for US$1,4 billion, power station at US$1,3 and other aspects giving a total of US$4,5 billion.
“It has taken a bit of some time since we developed studies in 2019 and there is now need to optimise the studies and we already have a technical advisor on the ground working on the optimisation. When we say optimisation we are looking at the capacity, we want to verify whether that 2 400MW is still viable, bankability of the project and other changes because of climate change.
“That process is going on and we expect that by August it will be done. From the look of things by the end of November we can look for a developer as per the target given by the Council of Ministers in December 2023 that we should by the first quarter of 2025 have a developer and start work. So when you come next year you are going to see a lot of development like access roads going to the river base and other activities on site,” he said.
Eng Munodawafa said discussions with many investors were underway and some were willing to invest in the project.
He said current work seeks to convince various stakeholders including Unesco that the project will not be an ecological disaster but would mitigate a lot of issues on the backdrop of climate change.
There have been concerns about white water rafting, displacement of people and taita falcons on the gorges but the developers have assured that none will be affected and no people will be displaced.
“We are also going to be seeing townships developing next year and we are not going to wait for completion of the dam to start electricity generation but this will start immediately in stages so that by 2028 we should be able to generate a few megawatts.”
Energy and Power Development Permanent Secretary Dr Gloria Magombo who also visited the site on Thursday said the Batoka project was a key project for the two nations.
“We do have support of the African Development Bank to make sure we start forming the necessary structures from within Governments and also the utilities who will then be given the mandate to start running the project. So it’s very clear Batoka has to go ahead. We had a Council of Ministers meeting in December and this was the main topic and the resolutions were made clear that the project has to go ahead. We believe it the project will go a long way in enhancing power generation capacity in the country,” she said.
Dr Magombo acknowledged the impact climate change will have on the power generation but said there were a lot of positives like job creation and development of the surrounding communities which on its own was a huge step towards modernisation for both countries.
