Mokaila to update nation on electricity woes

Staff Writer | Monday May 27, 2013 00:00

 

Minister Mokaila nearly let the cat out of the bag last Thursday in Ramotswa where he addressed a kgotla meeting alongside President Ian Khama, but said he was reserving the good news for his scheduled national address this week.

He did, however, give a hint saying he will deliver some reassuring and inspiring news that will be in sharp contrast to the same sad story of prolonged power cuts and failure of the plant.The Morupule Power B, built partly with a multi billion Pula loan from the World Bank(US$ 1662.00million) and local banks, missed completion deadlines after it was initially expected to operate by 2011. It also missed its new October 2012 deadline.

The World Bank has been helping Botswana put together improved management of the project, including international lawyers and project managers in a bid to ensure that it is completed well.Recently, government announced that the Botswana Power Corporation would be managed by an international company after the completion of the Morupule B project.

The BPC also recently floated tenders for private developers to develop more power units at Morupule that would feed into the national grid when completed.Electricity consumers, who have endured sporadic and sustained power cuts since the beginning of the year, will welcome any good news from the minister, particularly after Eskom last week ruled out the possibility of extending the current 200-megawatt supply to Botswana past its July 31 deadline, piling further pressure on the need to bring Morupule B into full operation.

Since January, Botswana has been receiving 100 MW on a firm basis from Eskom and another 200 MW classified as non-firm, meaning it is provided depending on South Africa's own needs. The 200MW deal expires in July, while the 100MW will end in 2015.

Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) data provided last week indicates that Eskom's supplies are contributing more than half of local demand estimated at 550 MW.

The BPC is reportedly running two local emergency diesel plants, generating 160MW, around the clock while also treating the 200MW as firm, due to the low supplies from the troubled Morupule B.