Fresh P800m budget for BPC
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Thursday December 10, 2015 18:00
The BPC injection is indicated in the P1.32 billion supplementary budget for the 2015/6 financial year as put before Parliament by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
According to the supplementary, the BPC requires P457.6 million for Morupule Coal Mine bills, P153.1 million for Eskom bills, P78.7 million for fuel at the Orapa and Matshelagabedi diesel plans and P72 million to pay contractors.
The Corporation also needs P60 million to pay for power purchases from Mozambique’s EDM power station.
“The requested funds are for remedial works on Morupule B in order to bring the plant to full operational capacity and to cover emergency power supply in the current financial year,” a brief accompanying the supplementary budget states.
“Funds amounting to P1.5 billion were allocated to the BPC during the current financial year and have been spent.”
In February, Finance Minister, Kenneth Matambo said the P1.5 billion allocated to the BPC was to “cover the tariff subsidy and some operational expenses”.
He also revealed that the Corporation had recorded a net loss of P1.3 billion in 2013 due to increases in generation, transmission and distribution expenses as well as the cost of importing power.
The latest funding for the BPC comes as government and the Morupule B contractor, CNEEC, square off over financial claims for the troubles at the 600MW power station.
The BPC last week restarted its load limit programme after two units at Morupule B crashed, while another was taken off line as a ‘statutory outage’.
Besides the P821.4 million, parliamentarians will also be asked to retrospectively approve an amount of P826 million already disbursed to the BPC as a cash injection for the 2014/15 financial year.
The supplementary budget also contains a request for P192 million for the steel reinforcement of the problematic 26-kilometre stretch of the North South Carrier Scheme near Palapye.
Prior to the reinforcement, nearly all bursts along the critical pipe were occurring within the stretch. MPs will also be asked to retrospectively approve P560 million already spent in the 2014/15 budget for emergency capital projects in the water sector and tariff support for the Water Utilities Corporation.
The recently announced Economic Stimulus Plan also features a total of P378.4 million for secondary school expansions, furniture and laboratory equipment as well as research and technology projects.
Historically, the supplementary budget or the main budget has always passed as the National Assembly is dominated by members of the ruling party.