US$900m thermal power plant planning for Chipata

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 09:52:05 +0000

By MAILESI BANDA

A US$900 million thermal power plant, expected to generate over 300 megawatts of power is poised to be constructed in Chipata, the provincial leadership has disclosed.

Eastern Province, permanent secretary Chanda Kasolo disclosed that the investment comes after the one day symposium the province hosted last year.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, he said the project would enable the province access energy and spur industrialisation in the province.

“We have a thermal power plant that is likely to be built in Chipata, it is a US$900 million project and will generate 300 megawatts of electricity in phase one,” he said.

Mr. Kasolo said construction of the plant would  take 12 months in the first phase and that 300 megawatts more of energy would be added in the phase two of the project which would come in the next 4 years.

He said the project would put the Eastern province on the grid and would be able to produce electricity for the country while the excess will be exported by ZESCO.

Mr. Kasolo described the symposium the country held last year as a success saying the thermal plant investment was birthed during the same.

“We have had so many referrals from the symposium the province held last year and we can safely say we are safe because we have received and continue receiving inquires on investment opportunities,” he said.

He disclosed that the reason the province had decided to host an expo this year is because of the response they received from last year’s symposium.

“We need a bigger symposium in form of an expo, after the one that we did in the province last year and currently we are working with two consultancy firms that have expressed interest and we are going through the usual, Zambia Public Procurement Authority process of choosing,” he said.

Mr. Kasolo said the expo was expected to take place around June and July this year.